The votes tallied with an astoundingly close race. Gilmer County has elected  as their new Probate Judge.

Some precincts came in as low as only 5-7% of registered voters turning out to their precinct Tuesday. At the end of the night, the votes set Scott Chastain at a grand total of 1,122 and Josh Teague at 1,090.

When asked about his victory, Probate Judge Elect Scott Chastain said, “I’m very humbled by the amount of voters who supported me.” Chastain spoke further about his transition into the office by setting his business with someone to replace his day-to-day duties, but also plans to shadow the current Judge Anita Mullins in her office in the coming months as he studies and attends the coming training sessions for the office. He went on to say, “I was very pleased with the tone of the race. I think we all four brought something good to the race… I kept hearing through the whole race that you had four good candidates and then when it went from four to two I kept hearing you got two good candidates.”

The sentiment was echoed by Chairman of the Gilmer County Republican Party Stephen Aaron, “I said it very early on that it’s rare to have so many good people running for an office, and it’s great that the voters of Gilmer County spoke.”

FYN also caught up with Josh Teague to ask about his campaign. Teague offered, “I like to thank everybody who came out to support me. We had a lot of great help, a lot of great support.” With pride in his race that his campaign ran, Teague said, “I hope Mr. Chastain succeeds and does well in office. I wish him all the best and success.”

Though both candidates showed great emotion as the results came in, it only served to mask the stress of an election that sat at a 3 vote difference when the precincts were counted, it came out that the early voting and absentee ballots set the final 32 vote difference that set Scott Chastain on top of the election.

FYN also sat down with the third party in this election. Though she didn’t run in the race, the current Judge Mullins shed tears as she said she was sad to be leaving the office, but was happy to be taking more time for herself and her family. Judge Mullins gave thanks for a smooth day with little issues in the elections systems. When asked about the final turnout of the race, Mullins stated, “I’ll keep Mr. Chastain in my prayers, that he’ll be able to do a good job and that he will enjoy the job as much as I did.”

The final tally of the precincts totaled:

Big Creek
Scott Chastain – 55
Josh Teague – 47

Boardtown
Scott Chastain – 49
Josh Teague – 39

Cartecay
Scott Chastain – 90
Josh Teague – 66

Cherry Log
Scott Chastain – 38
Josh Teague – 18

East Ellijay
Scott Chastain – 71
Josh Teague – 67

Ellijay NE
Scott Chastain – 45
Josh Teague – 41

Ellijay N
Scott Chastain – 58
Josh Teague – 63

Ellijay S
Scott Chastain – 60
Josh Teague – 69

Leaches
Scott Chastain – 39
Josh Teague – 51

Mountain Town
Scott Chastain – 38
Josh Teague – 45

Tails Creek
Scott Chastain – 33
Josh Teague – 47

Town Creek
Scott Chastain – 28
Josh Teague – 41

Yukon
Scott Chastain – 49
Josh Teague – 56

Mail-ins
Scott Chastain – 60
Josh Teague – 66

Early Voting
Scott Chastain – 409
Josh Teague – 374