Council Certifies Vote Tallies for 2021 Election

March 11th, 2021 | 4:54 pm

New mayor and councilors to be sworn in March 31, take office April 1

Elkins, W. Va., March 10, 2021: Meeting yesterday as the Elkins Board of canvassers, the Elkins council certified vote totals in the 2021 Municipal Election. The new mayor and the five councilors elected at this election will be sworn in March 31 and take office April 1.

The vote totals that council certified Wednesday were unchanged since the declaration of results at the close of Monday’s canvass. During the canvass, council reviewed 32 provisional ballots and accepted 22 of them, changing some vote totals but not the outcomes of any races. Candidates had 48 hours from the close of the canvass to request recounts, but none did, enabling council to certify as final the declared vote tallies in all five city wards.

Citywide, Jerry Marco won the office of mayor with 719 votes out of 1,039 cast. Votes for other mayoral candidates were as follows: Andrew Carroll, 146; D.C. Talkington, 5; and Karen Wilmoth, 169.

Also voted on by all city voters were three proposed charter amendments. A proposal to adopt the Mayor-Manager form of government was defeated 685 to 334. A proposal to pledge compliance with open government laws and a proposal to extend the mayor’s term from two to four years succeeded 780 to 229 and 563 to 458, respectively.

In the First Ward council race, incumbent Robert Chenoweth retained his seat with 260 votes against two challengers, Phillips Kolsun, who received 62 votes, and Travis Norwood, who received 40 votes.

In the Second Ward council race, incumbent Charles Friddle, III prevailed over challenger Carman Pennington, 95 to 76.

In the Third Ward council race, challenger Clint Higgins defeated incumbent Carman Metheny 52 to 38.

There was no incumbent in the Fourth Ward council race, as Karen Wilmoth—the councilor whose term was expiring—filed to run for mayor instead. In Fourth Ward, a former council member, Nanci Bross-Fregonara, defeated first-time candidate Liz Marshall-MacVean 143 to 98.

In Fifth Ward, incumbent Councilor David Parker received 72 votes, defeating challengers Howard Knapp (6 votes) and Burley Woods (67 votes).

The new mayor and all five council members commencing new terms April 1 will be sworn in at a special council meeting at 7 p.m. on March 31, at the Phil Gainer Community Center.

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