Unofficial results: Janus eliminated from BOE race

February 13, 2008|By ERIN CUNNINGHAM

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- Tom Janus received the least number of votes in Tuesday's primary election for a seat on the Washington County Board of Education, and he and Russell F. Williams II were in a tight battle to move on to November's general election.

The candidates were 896 votes apart with all 50 precincts reporting, according to complete and unofficial election results, but 1,413 absentee ballots remain to be counted.

One of the nine candidates running in Tuesday's primary election will eliminated before the general election. The field included two incumbents and three former board members -- all of who appeared to advance past the primary.

There are four open seats on the seven-member board, and the race is nonpartisan.

The following candidates were on the ballot: Donna Brightman, Jacqueline B. Fischer, W. Edward Forrest, Meredith Fouche, Justin M. Hartings, Janus, Margaret Lowery, Wayne D. Ridenour and Williams.

Voters were asked to select their top four choices.

Wayne D. Ridenour was the top vote-getter in Tuesday's primary election with 11,826 votes -- or about 17 percent of the total votes.

"Hopefully it reflects satisfaction by people of that job that I'm doing," he said.

Ridenour said he hopes that satisfaction carries over into the general election.

If Janus did not get enough votes Tuesday, it will mark the third time that he has been eliminated in the primary election. He received 4,450 votes, according to complete and unofficial results.

Williams, 65, of Hagerstown, received 5,346 votes. He served on the Board of Education from 2002-06, but lost in the primary election in 2006.

Janus, 65, lives in Hagerstown, and ran for a Board of Education seat in 2004 and in 2006, but did not make it through either primary election.

He ran as a write-in candidate in the 2004 election, but was unsuccessful.

Janus said Tuesday about 11 p.m. that he had been sleeping and was unaware of his status in the day's election.

"If you're calling me because I didn't make it, I have no comment," he said. "There's no comment to be made if I didn't make it."

Janus did say that he wanted to thank those who voted for him.

Brightman was the second-highest vote-getter with 11,078 votes.

Forrest, 44, of Hagerstown, was third with 10,154 votes, or 14.8 percent. He served on the board from 2000-07 and resigned from the board in March 2007.

Fischer, 62, who lives near Clear Spring, was fourth with 7,453 votes.

She served on the Board of Education from 2002-06 and lost her bid for re-election in the 2006 general election.

Absentee ballots must have been postmarked by Feb. 12 and received by 10 a.m. Feb. 22.