Write-in votes to decide two Oconee races

Two Oconee County elections remain un-decided, but they won’t have anywhere near the impact of what’s going on across the country to determine who will be president.  An Oconee County announcement is expected this week on who won the write-in votes to serve on both the county Soil and Water District Commission and the Beaverdam Creek Watershed Conservation District.  Bob Winchester serves as chairman of the soil and water commission, and yesterday he explained to 101.7/WGOG NEWS why Tuesday’s ballot listed no names as candidates for the one available commission seat.  To get your name on the ballot, you are obligated to gather at least 100 petition signatures.  No one did that this year, and the apparent reason is that no one wanted to risk catching COVID-19 while circulating petitions.  Thus, the seat is to be filled by whoever won the write-in vote.  A total of 243 write-ins were cast, and elections director Scharich says those write-ins are to be tallied to decide the winner.  The situation has been brought to light by the posting of a Facebook comment from an Oconee County woman who said had she known the seat was available she’d have run for it.  Also, write-in votes are to decide the winners of three seats on the Beaverdam Creek Watershed Conservation District, which covers a portion of southern Oconee County. A total of 116 write-ins were cast for those three seats.