Chafin Wins In Oconee, But Gonzalez Wins Clarke And Election

Oconee County voters overwhelmingly picked James Chafin in Tuesday’s runoff election for District Attorney of the Western Judicial Circuit, but their votes were offset by voters in Clarke County, and Deborah Gonzalez won with 51.7 percent of the vote.

Turnout was higher in Oconee County, with 30.5 percent of the county’s 30,071 voters casting a ballot compared with 22.0 percent of Clarke County’s 76,779 voters.

Chafin, who ran without a party label, got 76.1 percent of the vote in Oconee County, but he got only 33.3 percent of the vote in Clarke County.

Gonzalez, who ran as a Democrat, got only 23.9 percent of the vote in Oconee County, but she got 66.7 percent of the vote in Clarke County.

With Oconee County voters contributing 35.2 percent of the total vote and Clarke contributing 64.8 percent of the vote, Gonzalez won by 866 votes.

For more on the story, please go to Oconee County Observations.