Current Dadeville Mayor Wayne Smith and candidate Frank Goodman have some more campaigning to do before a runoff election Oct. 6.
With a low voter turnout of 870 for mayor, Goodman took 424 of the votes and Smith received 328 with candidate Brandon Jones receiving 118 votes. Since neither Smith nor Goodman earned at least 51% of the total votes, the election will move to a runoff.
Both candidates said they expected a runoff and plan to hit the ground running to win over more voters.
“I was expecting a runoff but I am disappointed,” Smith said. “I am glad to be in the runoff and I have a lot of votes to make up so I plan to do just that.”
Goodman said there always seems to be low voter turnout in Dadeville elections as many residents like to talk about the issues but not step up when it’s time to take action.
“People like to talk but when it comes down to doing it, they back up on it,” Goodman said. “I wasn’t really on pins and needles; it was going to be what it was going to be.”
Smith held an election party at Zazu’s and addressed the crowd after receiving the news.
“The votes are out there; I guess I just didn’t work hard enough,” Smith said. “I gotta work harder between now and the runoff. Let’s bring this thing home. We’ve come too far to turn around now and back up. We’ve got Dadeville in the right direction and we’ve got to continue. The games not over; we’re just in the second half.”
Goodman said regardless of the outcome, he is thankful for the opportunity.
“Either way I am thankful,” he said. “I just gotta talk to more people and see if I can keep my lead up from what it is now. Only God knows. I just have to pray and keep working on it.”
The councilmember results are:
In District 1, Darryl Heard won with 107 votes and Betty Adams had 49.
In District 2, incumbent Brownie Caldwell won with 125 votes and Harold Gamble took home 77.
In District 3, incumbent Teneeshia Goodman-Johnson earned 171 votes to Larry Woodyard’s 63.
In District 4 — the only district without an incumbent running — Terry Greer earned 76 votes versus Troy Davis’ 32 votes.
