In a race that was too close to officially call as of Wednesday, Highlands appears to have elected Brian Stiehler, John ‘Buz’ Dotson and Marc Hehn to the board of commissioners.
Stiehler, an incumbent, was the leading vote getter with 182 ballots cast in his favor. Stiehler’s result is not in doubt.
“I’m honored to be able to serve another four years,” Stiehler said by phone on Wednesday. “I love this job and I love what I’m doing. I’m glad to be reelected.”
Dotson, a fellow incumbent, and Hehn, a potential newcomer to the board, finished tied for second with 134 votes each as of Tuesday.
Eric Pierson appears to have narrowly missed out on retaining his position, finishing with 130 votes. Challenger Hank Ross amassed 126 votes to finish fifth. Nick McCall’s 85 votes and Michael Rogers’ 58 votes rounded out the field.
Because the race for the second and third seats is so close, the results won’t become official until the vote canvass on Nov. 15. At that time the Macon County Board of Elections staff will count each paper ballot by hand to ensure the results are exact.
“That is when the board of elections will come in, look at the provisional ballots and make decisions on those as well as count any absentee ballots that come in that are postmarked Nov. 5 or earlier,” Macon County Board of Elections specialist Judy Fritz said. “We know there are three provisional ballots for Highlands.”
During the one-stop early voting period Stiehler established a clear lead with 89 votes to Hehn’s 72, Pierson’s 71, Ross’s 68 and Dotson’s 64. On Election Day, Tuesday, Stiehler amassed 93 votes while Dotson received 70, Hehn got 62, Pierson received 59 and Ross 58.
There were 161 votes cast during the early voting period. On Election Day there were an additional 163 ballots cast, for 324 ballots cast total.
In the only other municipal races in Macon County, incumbent Franklin Mayor Bob Scott retained his position by defeating challenger Barbara McRae. Incumbent council member Joe Collins won reelection and was joined by newcomers to the Franklin Town Council Michael Lewis and Jack Horton.
The total voter turnout in Macon County’s two municipalities was 873 voters, which equalled a 24.4 percent voter turnout.
