Devey Edges Out Brown in Close Race

Both candidates for were on hand at the Paulding County elections office Tuesday to see firsthand the results of their race. At nearly 8 p.m., just under an hour since the polls closed, it was Doris Devey that had edged out Don Brown—13 votes made the difference.

“Right now, I can tell you I’m very shocked,” Devey said. “It was a great race—Don ran a great race right there along with me—we stood down there today side by side. I think either one of us that would’ve won would do well for the citizens of Hiram.”

Devey earned 97 votes to Brown’s 84; three write-in votes were tabulated.

Election-day polling favored Brown, as he took 46 votes to Devey’s 37. But the latter was boosted by absentee-in-person and absentee-by-mail ballots, which gave her 58 votes to Brown’s 33.

Cynthia Geyer, Hiram's city clerk/administrator, said city officials plan to have the mayor-elect attend this Thursday's city council work session. Devey is slated to be sworn in during the March 13 council meeting. A reception will be held at the end of the meeting to congratulate the new mayor and the city's two newest council members, Prather Rollins and Kathy Bookout.

Devey said before all that, she had a few plans.

“Truthfully, I’m going home and I’m going home and soaking my feet, because I’ve been out there since 6:30 this morning. So I’m going home and relax right now with my husband and family,” she said after the results were released. “Tomorrow I’ll just go down to city hall and say hello to everybody, pick up my signs so they’re not out there on the street anymore, and just take it all in. I’m really excited, and I think things are going to move forward.

“I’d like to thank all the voters that did come out and vote,” Devey added. “There’s one thing that’s very disappointing—when you have that many people that are actually registered voters … [and] it’s such a small turnout.”

Devey was referring to the election’s 11.1-percent turnout. In all, 185 votes were recorded out of the city’s 1,661 registered voters.

The city’s election this past November , though it featured only one candidate—Jack Paris. That election cycle also featured two city council races.

“I still think that’s a small amount for a city,” Devey said, referring to the November turnout. “We need to get more people involved and voting.”

during the first council meeting in 2012, which prompted Tuesday’s special election to find a new mayor.

Brown declined to comment for this story.