Tuesday’s special election saw the largest turnout to elect a Ward 1 Washington City Council member in several years, as the unofficial results show Bethany Vittetoe Glinsmann had a 12 vote margin over Deran DeLong.

Glinsmann received 118 votes and DeLong received 106. Of those votes 88 were cast via absentee ballot, with 71 of them cast for Glinsmann. Of the 1,128 voters registered in the northwest quadrant of the city, 224 ballots were cast, or 19.86%. In the 2019 regular election for this seat Danielle Pettit-Majewski ran unopposed receiving 94 votes, and in 2015 Kerry Janecek won with 103.

Ballots cast for Glinsmann exceeded the total number of votes cast in the July 2018 election for the seat, which Pettit-Majewski won with 54. Leading up to the election Glinsmann says she and other community members knocked on doors and distributed flyers to almost every home in the ward, “I think what this shows is that grassroots efforts really do pay off. It takes a lot of time but I think it can have big benefits both on Election Day and just in terms of developing relationships with other members of the community.”

Glinsmann thanked those who voted as well as the poll workers and the Washington County Auditor’s Office who made the election possible. Election results are unofficial until a canvassing by the Washington County Board of Supervisors. The council term lasts through 2023.