By Paul Bolster
Nobody received 50% of the vote in the November 4 special election and so there will be a runoff to decide who will represent East Atlanta on the DeKalb County Commission.
The highest vote total in the district went to Nicole Massiah with 30,693 votes or 42%. Second was Andrew Bell with 17,288 or 23% of the vote. The total vote in this district was less than half the number of votes received by the two leading candidates in the 7th district special election. Low turnout here likely brought down the total vote for Harris in the presidential race.
In East Atlanta’s two precincts, Burgess Peterson and Metropolitan (New Iconium) Massiah did a little better than in the rest of the district. She came close to the magic 50% in both.
On December 3, a new commissioner to represent the neighborhood was chosen, Nicole Massiah defeated Andrew Bell with 76% of the vote. The seat on the Commission has been vacant since Larry Johnson resigned to run for the County Executive position.