The Aug. 3 primary election results have been certified and now it is clear exactly who made the cut for Taylor City Council, and how many votes write-in candidates had in the council and mayoral races.
A field of 16 candidates were on the ballot for council, and the race included three write-ins.
The results, certified by the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, show the top 14 candidates moving on to the Nov. 2 general election, in their order of finish, are:
Doug Geiss — 3,468
(I) Angie Winton — 3,411
(I) Herman Ramik — 2,940
Jill Brandana — 2,718
Lindsey Rose — 2,556
Amy Atwood — 2,475
Justin Mordarski — 2,307
Asha Tyson — 2,256
Tina Daniels — 2,246
Ira Slaven — 2,215
Nick Dmitruchina — 1,689
Chrissy Masters Carmona — 1,623
(I) Charles Howard Johnson — 1,577
Chris Verdun — 1,536
The top seven in the general election will make up the council.
Johnson ran a successful write-in campaign, beating out four candidates who were listed on the ballot and two other write-in candidates.
Others in the race who failed to move on are:
Sam Ditzhazy — 1,483
Korey Ryan Morris — 1,465
Martin Drouillard — 1,437
(I) Caroline Patts — 695
(I) Daniel A. Bzura — 372
Patts and Bzura were incumbents and also write-in candidates.
The outcome was not in question after the unofficial primary votes were counted in the race for mayor, despite the fact there were two write-in candidates.
The combined number of votes for write-in candidates Mayor Richard Sollars and Christine Hope Clancy turned out to be fewer than even fewer than the top three finishers.
With top two moving on to battle for the mayor’s seat, the final numbers in the mayoral race are:
State Rep. Alex Garza (D-Taylor) — 2,793
Council Chairman Tim Woolley — 1,738
Jeff Jones — 1,713
Sollars — 1,578
Clancy — 7
Despite the close finish between Woolley and Jones, Jones said he does not intend to request a recount.
Although council candidates had to wait for the board to certify the votes in order to find out their respective totals, it was worth the wait for Johnson.
He said considering what he was up against, he believes he did a great job making the top 14 and being in contention for a council seat in November.
Johnson said a businessman who lives outside of the city has taken an interest in Taylor politics and has made a concerted effort to work against him.
He was kept off the ballot after failing to acknowledge a $25 fee that had not been paid, but signed an affidavit that he did not have any outstanding campaign fees.
He said it was just an oversight, but wasn’t going to let it stand in the way of returning to the council.
Johnson said he decided to run as a write-in candidate and is proud to say he did it and his name will appear on the November ballot.
“I knew I still had a shot,” Johnson said. “I’ve been here for 60 years — all my life. People know I care about the city, plain and simple.”
The board found 33 different variations of Johnson’s name as a write-in and approved 30 of them.
He thanked the efforts of his supporters, believing their work paid off now, and is confident it will in the future as well.
“I’m a blue-collar worker,” Johnson said. “These people know me. I won, and I plan to win in the general election.”