343 residents voted in the 2024 Shepherdstown municipal election — 45% of the 768 registered voters. This number includes early voting and absentee ballots received as of Election Day on June 4. According to Town Clerk Amy Boyd, the previous high mark for participation was 243 voters in 2020. This year’s ballot included 2 candidates for mayor, 1 candidate for recorder, and 7 candidates running for 5 at-large council seats. All of the offices have a two year term.
In the tally for the mayoral race, James Gatz received 222 votes and Jim Auxer, the incumbent mayor, received 127 votes. Chris Stroech received 251 votes for recorder. For the at-large seats on the council, the successful candidates are: Marty Americaner, (232 votes), Shannon Thomas (208), Linus Bicker (204), Cheryl Roberts (197), and Marcy Bartlett (182). Lori Robertson (161) and Jenny Haynes (121) were not elected.
The results are preliminary until the Town Council meets for the official canvass on June 10. The combined vote totals in the mayoral race (349) are greater than the count of ballots cast (343). Although this discrepancy is not significant enough to affect the outcome of any of the races, it will need to be reconciled at the canvass.
The Town Hall voting location was open from 6:30 am until 7:30 pm on Election Day. The same team (Crystal Painter, Molly Kramer, Terrence Kramer, and Gail McMillion) who ran the voting station also stayed to count the ballots, a process that wasn’t completed until after midnight.
The public was allowed to observe the vote counting, which was done by hand, one ballot at a time, so it was possible to hear the candidate selections on each individual ballot. While the voters made a decisive choice in the race for mayor, there did not appear to be strong correlations between the choice for mayor and the choices for council members.
By Steve Pearson