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Muscogee County School District elections (2016)
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Four of the nine seats on the Muscogee County Board of Education were up for general election on May 24, 2016. A runoff election was held on July 26, 2016, for Districts 1 and 7. District 1 incumbent Pat Hugley Green and challenger JoAnn Thomas-Brown defeated Al Stewart but neither candidate won a majority of the general election vote. Green defeated Thomas-Brown in the runoff election. In District 7, Shelia Williams lost to Cathy Williams in the runoff election after defeating Norene Marvets in the general election.[1]
District 3 incumbent Athavia Senior was defeated by challenger Vanessa Jackson. Laurie Cochran McRae won the District 5 seat by defeating Pete Taylor, Robert Wadkins Jr., and Todd Robinson.[1] Click here to find out how Muscogee County's school board elections compare to other nonpartisan school districts in Georgia.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Muscogee County Board of Education consists of nine members elected to four-year terms. Eight members are elected by district, while the ninth member is elected at large. The candidate filing period for Georgia school board candidates lasted from March 7, 2016, to March 11, 2016. Prospective candidates for nonpartisan offices submitted declarations of candidacy with their county election offices. The voter registration deadline for the general election was April 26, 2016.[2]
The following dates were key deadlines for Georgia's nonpartisan school board elections in 2016:[3]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| March 7, 2016 | First day of candidate filing period |
| March 11, 2016 | Candidate filing deadline |
| April 26, 2016 | Voter registration deadline |
| May 24, 2016 | General election |
| July 26, 2016 | General runoff election (if necessary) |
Candidates and results
District 1
| Muscogee County School District, District 1 General Runoff Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Pat Hugley Green Incumbent |
57.49% | 814 |
| JoAnn Thomas-Brown | 42.51% | 602 |
| Total Votes | 1,416 | |
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State, "General Primary and Nonpartisan General Runoff July 26, 2016," accessed December 14, 2016 | ||
| Muscogee County School District, District 1 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Pat Hugley Green Incumbent |
46.66% | 1,236 |
| JoAnn Thomas-Brown |
29.97% | 794 |
| Al Stewart | 23.37% | 619 |
| Total Votes | 2,649 | |
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State, "General Primary and Nonpartisan General Election May 24, 2016," accessed December 14, 2016 | ||
Pat Hugley Green 
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Al Stewart | JoAnn Thomas-Brown | |||
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District 3
| Muscogee County School District, District 3 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Vanessa Jackson |
56.60% | 1,175 |
| Athavia Senior Incumbent | 43.40% | 901 |
| Total Votes | 2,076 | |
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State, "General Primary and Nonpartisan General Election May 24, 2016," accessed December 14, 2016 | ||
| Athavia Senior | Vanessa Jackson
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District 5
| Muscogee County School District, District 5 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Laurie Cochran McRae |
52.00% | 1,015 |
| Pete Taylor | 21.21% | 414 |
| Todd Robinson | 16.29% | 318 |
| Robert Wadkins Jr. | 10.50% | 205 |
| Total Votes | 1,952 | |
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State, "General Primary and Nonpartisan General Election May 24, 2016," accessed December 14, 2016 | ||
| Robert Wadkins Jr. | Todd Robinson | ||
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| Laurie Cochran McRae
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Pete Taylor | ||
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District 7
| Muscogee County School District, District 7 General Runoff Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Cathy Williams |
62.50% | 380 |
| Shelia Williams | 37.50% | 228 |
| Total Votes | 608 | |
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State, "General Primary and Nonpartisan General Runoff July 26, 2016," accessed December 14, 2016 | ||
| Muscogee County School District, District 7 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Cathy Williams |
46.04% | 540 |
| Shelia Williams |
32.91% | 386 |
| Norene Marvets | 21.06% | 247 |
| Total Votes | 1,173 | |
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State, "General Primary and Nonpartisan General Election May 24, 2016," accessed December 14, 2016 | ||
| Norene Marvets | Shelia Williams | Cathy Williams
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Georgia elections, 2016
The May 24 school board election shared the ballot with Georgia's statewide primary. This primary included races for Georgia State Senate, Georgia House of Representatives, and local court seats. Primaries for U.S. House and U.S. Senate seats were on the ballot.
Endorsements
Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2014Runoff election
General election
2012District 1 incumbent Pat Hugley Green and District 5 incumbent Rob Varner defeated challengers Al Stewart and Brian McCabe, respectively. The July 31, 2012 board election included losses for board members James Walker and Norene Marvets. Walker lost the District 3 race to Athavia "A.J." Senior and challenger Shannon Heflin defeated Marvets for the District 7 seat.[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
Issues in the election
Election trends
- See also: School board elections, 2014
Georgia's spring nonpartisan school board elections in 2016 featured more districts with unopposed board seats than in 2014. Three of the state's 20 largest nonpartisan districts by enrollment (15 percent) had no contested seats in 2014. This rate doubled to six districts (30 percent) with entirely unopposed board seats in 2016. Ten districts saw fewer candidates per seat in 2016 than 2014, while nine districts had more candidates per seat and one district remained at the same number from year to year.
The following table compares candidates per seat rates and unopposed seat percentages for Georgia's largest nonpartisan school districts for 2014 and 2016:
| Year-to-Year School Board Election Comparison, 2014 and 2016 | |||||
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| District | Candidates per seat, 2014 | Candidates per seat, 2016 | Year-to-year change (%) | % of seats unopposed, 2014 | % of seats unopposed, 2016 |
| Bibb County School District | 2.0 | 1.83 | -8.5 | 0.0 | 50.0 |
| Bulloch County Schools | 1.5 | 1.75 | 16.7 | 50.0 | 50.0 |
| Carroll County Schools | 1.0 | 2.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 25.0 |
| Catoosa County Public Schools | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Clarke County School District | 1.0 | 1.5 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 75.0 |
| Colquitt County Schools | 2.0 | 1.0 | -100.0 | 50.0 | 100.0 |
| Columbia County School System | 1.5 | 1.3 | -13.3 | 50.0 | 66.7 |
| Coweta County School System | 1.75 | 2.3 | 31.4 | 25.0 | 33.3 |
| DeKalb County School District | 3.14 | 1.0 | -68.2 | 14.3 | 100.0 |
| Effingham County Schools | 2.5 | 1.3 | -48.0 | 50.0 | 66.7 |
| Fulton County Schools | 1.75 | 1.0 | -42.9 | 50.0 | 100.0 |
| Griffin-Spalding County School System | 1.67 | 1.0 | -40.1 | 33.3 | 100.0 |
| Henry County Schools | 2.0 | 2.3 | 15.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Houston County Board of Education | 2.2 | 1.5 | -31.8 | 60.0 | 50.0 |
| Liberty County School System | 1.25 | 1.0 | -20.0 | 75.0 | 100.0 |
| Lowndes County Schools | 2.0 | 1.5 | -25.0 | 33.3 | 50.0 |
| Muscogee County School District | 2.2 | 3.0 | 36.4 | 40.0 | 0.0 |
| Rockdale County Public Schools | 1.5 | 2.2 | 46.7 | 50.0 | 40.0 |
| Savannah-Chatham County Public School System | 1.8 | 1.5 | -16.7 | 80.0 | 50.0 |
| Troup County School System | 1.3 | 2.0 | 53.8 | 66.7 | 50.0 |
About the district
- See also: Muscogee County School District, Georgia
Muscogee County School District is located in Muscogee County in western Georgia. The county seat is Columbus. Muscogee County was home to 200,887 residents in 2014, according to estimates by the United States Census Bureau.[5] The district was the 11th-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 32,128 students.[6]
Demographics
Muscogee County underperformed in comparison to the state of Georgia in terms of higher education achievement, median household income, and poverty rate from 2009 to 2012. The United States Census Bureau found 22.6 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 28.0 percent for Georgia as a whole. The median household income in Muscogee County was $41,339, compared to $49,179 for the state of Georgia. The county's poverty rate was 19.6 percent, compared to the state's 18.2 percent.[5]
| Racial Demographics, 2013[5] | ||
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| Race | Muscogee County (%) | Georgia (%) |
| White | 48.2 | 62.5 |
| Black or African American | 46.0 | 31.4 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Asian | 2.4 | 3.7 |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Two or More Races | 2.7 | 1.9 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 7.3 | 9.2 |
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Muscogee County School District' 'Georgia'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Muscogee County School District | Georgia | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Georgia Secretary of State, "Qualifying Candidate Information," accessed April 18, 2016
- ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "2016 Qualifying: Reference Calendar & Documents," accessed March 11, 2016
- ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "2016 Elections and Voter Registration Calendar," accessed March 11, 2016
- ↑ WTOC, "Longtime Muscogee Co. school board members booted after election," August 1, 2012
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 United States Census Bureau, "Muscogee County, Georgia," accessed May July 24, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
| 2016 Muscogee County School District Elections | |
| Muscogee County, Georgia | |
| Election date: | May 24, 2016 |
| Candidates: | District 1: Incumbent, Pat Hugley Green • Al Stewart • JoAnn Thomas-Brown District 3: Incumbent, Athavia Senior • Vanessa Jackson |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
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