KINGWOOD — Steve Shaffer is Preston County’s newest circuit judge, while Magistrate P.L. Grimm retained her seat on the lower court.
Unofficial totals Tuesday night showed Shaffer beat three other attorneys, including Preston Prosecutor Mel Snyder, to fill the unexpired term of Judge Lawrance Miller Jr. Miller retired earlier this year.
Unofficial tallies showed Shaffer with 2,405 votes (31.85 percent); Snyder, 2,061 (27.30 percent); Buddy Turner, 1,723 (22.82 percent); and Lisa Hyre, 1,356 (17.96 percent).
Both Grimm and Rhonda Sypolt sought magistrate seats in the 2016 election. Neither won then, but Grimm was appointed to fill Magistrate Lew Ault’s position after Ault retired this year. She had to run Tuesday to keep the seat through the rest of Ault’s unexpired term.
The unofficial tally showed Grimm received 3,676 votes (52.54 percent) and Sypolt 3,303 votes (47.21 percent).
