Bristol Election Results

Yesterday, Bristol, like a lot of other localities in Virginia, held its city election. I worked in our largest precinct, the Fourth Ward (Van Pelt). We had a grand total of 718 at our precinct, with 100 votes on the new electronic balloting machine.

You can see here what my opinion was on the election. Two out of three candidates I supported won for each office, which isn't too bad. (Keep in mind that the three highest vote getters in each race win)

The official results in my precinct were:
City Council:
James F. Rector - 497
Fred T. Bowman - 436
Frank Goodpasture, III - 408
Douglas R. Weberling - 387
Write Ins - 6

School Board:
Virginia S. Goodson - 444
Randall J. White - 415
Ted M. Castle - 394
Eric D. Clark - 377
Write Ins - 5

For the entire city, the results were:
City Council:
James F. Rector - 1,305
Frank Goodpasture, III - 1,203
Fred T. Bowman - 1,156
Douglas R. Weberling - 1,115

And, for the school board:
Virginia S. Goodson - 1,260
Randall J. White - 1,217
Eric D. Clark - 1,108
Ted M. Castle - 976


I find it interesting that Doug Weberling, Mayor Doug Weberling, was the lowest voter-getter in two out of four precincts (including the precinct he lives in). The dismal showing in the Fourth Ward was what doomed his re-election. I would point out that the other three candidates for the council spent a good chunk of the day at Van Pelt. Jim Rector was there at 6:15 and stayed until noon, and his wife stayed until 8:00, when I went outside and announced the vote totals. Fred Bowman not only hung around all day, but brought all his helpers iced tea and french fries. All four of the school board candidates spent good chunks of their day in the Fourth Ward, as it is by far the biggest precinct, and accounted for almost a half of the total voters.

In Bristol, our City Council picks the Mayor from its own ranks. So, since Mayor Weberling will be leaving, I'll go ahead and take my educated guess (because everybody wants to know...) about who will be the next mayor and vice mayor.

For Mayor, the common sense choice would be Councilman Harold Leonard, who has seniority on everybody else. For Vice Mayor, Farnham Jarrard is the next most senior. Of course, Leonard is a behind-the-scense person, and may very well be retiring in the next election, and Jarrard and Rector are both former Mayors, so it could also be a Jarrard/Rector duo.

We'll see what happens.