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Muscogee County School District elections (2016)

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2014
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Muscogee County School District Elections

General election date:
May 24, 2016
Runoff election date:
July 26, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
32,128 students

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
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png 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
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Pat Hugley Green Incumbent 46.66% 1,236
Green check mark transparent.png 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 Green check mark transparent.png Al Stewart JoAnn Thomas-Brown

Pat Hugley Green.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • First elected in 2004
  • B.A., Johnson C. Smith University
  • M.A., Tennessee State University
  • Insurance agent

Placeholder image.png

  • Retired educator
  • Veteran, U.S. Air Force

Joann Thomas-Brown.jpg

District 3

Muscogee County School District,
District 3 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png 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 Green check mark transparent.png

Athavia Senior.jpg

  • Incumbent

Vanessa Jackson.jpg

District 5

Muscogee County School District,
District 5 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png 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

Placeholder image.png

  • Bachelor's degree, University of Georgia
  • J.D., University of Georgia
  • Attorney

Todd Robinson.jpg

  • Master's degree, Troy State University
  • Retired U.S. Army Ranger
Laurie Cochran McRae Green check mark transparent.png Pete Taylor

Laurie McRae.jpg

  • Bachelor's degree, University of Georgia
  • Master's degree, University of Georgia
  • Attorney

Pete Taylor.jpg

District 7

Muscogee County School District,
District 7 General Runoff Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png 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
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Cathy Williams 46.04% 540
Green check mark transparent.png 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 Green check mark transparent.png

Placeholder image.png

  • Co-owner, John Paul's Jewelers
  • Former District 7 member, 2008-2012

Placeholder image.png

  • Bachelor's degree, Alcorn State University
  • Master's degree, Troy University
  • Executive director, B&O Services

Placeholder image.png

  • Bachelor's degree, Troy University
  • President and CEO, NeighborWorks Columbus
  • Former at-large member, 2006-2014

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

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Past elections

What was at stake?

Issues in the election

Election trends

School Board Election Trends Banner.jpg
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
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, Ga.

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]
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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Seal of Georgia.png
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External links

Footnotes