MORGANTOWN — Dave Harshbarger will be one of two new faces — along with Zack Cruze in the 3rd Ward — to join the Morgantown City Council in July.
Harshbarger defeated Jay Redmond on Tuesday for the right to represent the 6th Ward, receiving the highest vote total of the three contested races, with 1,034.
Redmond, who served on council for one term from 2015-17, ended up with 536 votes.
Harshbarger fills the seat being vacated by Mark Brazaitis, who opted to not seek re-election after one tumultuous term.In the 7th Ward, Barry Wendell will return for a second term after easily surviving a write-in challenge from Todd Stainbrook, 1,028-363.
There were two unopposed incumbents in Jenny Selin (4th Ward) and Ron Dulaney (5th Ward).
Dulaney ended up as the evening’s top vote-getter at 1,268, while Selin received 1,144 votes.
City Clerk Christine Wade said 1,630 votes were cast in the election. That estimates to about a 12-percent voter turnout, though the total number of registered city voters was unavailable Tuesday night.
For those gathered at Morgantown City Hall, the evening was pretty subdued.
Polls closed at 7:30 p.m. and precincts began dropping off results about a half hour later.
Around 9 p.m., Wade began reading out vote totals by precinct. After a short delay to tally write-in totals, the final numbers were available by 10 p.m.
All vote totals are unofficial until canvassing is completed May 6.
BConley@DominionPost.com
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UPDATE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Harshbarger as a former member of the Monongalia County school board.
