Cumming
Linda Ledbetter and Christopher Light won seats on the Cumming City Council.

Baldwin
Voters in Baldwin re-elected incumbents Dustin Mealor and Theron L. Ayers and approved freeport tax exemptions on three separate ballot questions.

Demorest
Florence Wikle and incumbent Donnie W. Bennett finished 1-2 in a race for Demorest City Council and are headed to a runoff. Demorest voters defeated liquor by the drink sales and Sunday liquor sales.

Braselton
Becky Richardson, wife of Jackson County District 3 Commissioner Ralph Richardson, won election Tuesday to the Braselton Town Council, unseating 10-year incumbent councilman Richard Mayberry. Richardson got 86 votes to Mayberry’s 61 for a 57-40 percent margin of victory.

Hoschton
With 18.67 percent turnout, Hoschton voters approved the alcohol referendum on Tuesday’s ballot by a 67.83 percent to 32.17 percent margin. Hoschton Post 5 Councilman Scott Butler won his re-election bid as he held off challenger Michelle Forthofer, 55.71 percent to 44.29 percent.

Jefferson
Guy Dean Benson and Angela D’Zamko easily retained their seats on the Jefferson City Schools Board of Education in Tuesday’s election. Benson got 80.77 percent of the votes in the District 5 contest against Heidi Hill, who received 19.23 percent. D’Zamko garnered 77.23 percent to challenger Heather Duran’s 22.77 percent.

Nicholson
Mayor Ronnie Maxwell, who is facing charges in the wake of a Georgia Bureau of Investigation into questioned spending of special purpose local option sales tax funds for paving of a road on family property, was unseated y challenger Jan Bell Webster. Webster garnered 160 votes while Maxwell got 99 and Steve Wilbanks received 47. Webster outpaced Maxwell 52 percent to 32 percent.

With 15 provisional ballots to be counted during a 10 a.m. gathering on Monday in the Jackson County Administration Building auditorium, the second council post will be determined at that time, according to Elections Supervisor Lori Wurst. While Mike Barfield was the top vote-getter in the seven-person balloting for two posts.

In a special election for Nicholson council, Judy Kesler got 42.41 percent of the votes with Dana Nichols getting 35.52 percent and Jason Maxwell receiving 21.72 percent.

Talmo
In the Talmo city election, incumbent councilwoman Myra McEver and James Buffington were the top two-vote-getters in the three-way contest. McEver received 45.31 percent; Buffington got 39.06 percent; and Rusty Vandeford got 15.63 percent.

Commerce
Commerce Mayor Clark Hill III was re-elected in Tuesday’s election as he held of a challenge from Perry Faison.
Hill got 86.88 percent of the votes to Faison’s 12.64 percent.

In the Commerce Ward 5 race, incumbent Johnny Eubanks was re-elected when he received 74.42 percent of the ballots while Wayne Gholston got 25.58 percent of the votes.

Commerce Board of Education incumbents Bill Davis in District 3 and Rodney Gary in District 4 were re-elected in Tuesday’s balloting. Gary beat out Allison Davis 51.86 percent to 48.14 percent while Bill Davis garnered 54.84percent to Jon Athony Allen’s 37.63 percent.

LeAnne Akin, Times staff reports