The Town of Chevy Chase had an usually competitive election with seven candidates for the three seats. The Council has a total of five seats with staggered two-year terms.

There are 2574 registered voters in the Town and 889 cast ballots for a 35 percent turnout. Our Town’s oldest resident, Kathleen Williams who is a very young 102, not only voted but came to the Town’s Annual Meeting where she received a round of applause.

And now to the results with the percentages being out of total ballots cast:

Vicky Taplin: 492 (55.3%)
Kathy Strom: 467 (52.3%)
Al Lang: 400 (45.0%)
Kathie Legg: 390 (43.9%)
Grant Davies: 366 (41.2%)
Donald Farren: 163 (18.3%)
Deborah Vollmer: 74 (8.3%)

There were a total of 2352 votes, fewer than the 2667 votes cast. While some were encouraging bullet votes (casting fewer votes than the maximum of three) in this election, it had a smaller impact than in previous elections where this was a major factors. All but 11.8% of votes were cast.

Both incumbents, Kathy Strom and Al Lang, were reelected but Al beat newcomer Kathie Legg by just 10 votes. Kathie knocked on the door of every single Town resident in a really impressive effort and very good campaign that fell just short.

Don Farren ran on a pro-Purple Line platform–the centerpiece of his campaign. He expressed repeatedly the belief that there was less opposition and much more support for the light-rail line in the Town than realized. That appears to have been repudiated at the polls, as Don received less than one-fifth of the vote.

Note: I voted for Kathy Strom, Vicky Taplin, and Kathie Legg.