UPDATED — Wednesday, Nov. 4
Jason Scott Breeden received another 3,359 votes in his bid for the school board chairman’s seat when election officials added absentee ballots to precinct totals on Wednesday morning.
In total, Breeden received 7,202 votes, or 72.3 percent of the ballots cast for chairman of the Page County School Board.
Write-in candidates received a total of 2,762 votes, or 27.7 percent.
Megan Gordon announced her write-in campaign in late June.
Breeden won all five magisterial districts within the county. Gordon made her best showing in District 5 at the southern end of the county, where write-ins gained 761 votes compared to 820 for Breeden.
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By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Nov. 3 — Jason Scott Breeden was the only candidate on the Nov. 3 ballot for chairman of the Page County School Board. However, a strong write-in campaign from Megan Gordon made the race interesting.
Some questions still remain as absentee ballots were not included in the results given Tuesday night by the Virginia Department of Elections.
However, according to the “unofficial” results available as of Tuesday night, it appears Breeden won the chairman’s seat with 3,843 votes (or 63.4 percent of ballots cast), compared to 2,216 write-ins votes (or 36.6 percent of ballots that have been counted).
Efforts to reach Breeden for comment on Election Night were unsuccessful.
While noting that current results are still “unofficial,” the Virginia Department of Elections posted a statement at the top of the results page on its website Tuesday night that read: “Absentee ballots may be accepted until noon on November 6th. Therefore, results are incomplete. Results will be certified on November 16th.”
While Breeden met the June 9 deadline to file his candidacy with the county registrar and get his name on the ballot, Gordon launched her write-in campaign for school board chairman with a June 28 announcement on social media.
In Tuesday’s count, Breeden won all five magisterial districts in the county. Gordon made her strongest showing in the southern end of the county in District 5, where she captured 761 votes compared to Breeden’s 820. The other four districts showed roughly a 2-to-1 margin in favor of Breeden.
Breeden has worked in several school divisions in different capacities, including the Page and Shenandoah County school divisions. Gordon is currently the director of the Page Alliance for Community Action and perviously worked in the Central Office for Page County Public Schools.
On Dec. 9, 2019, the Page County School Board appointed James “Jim” Grimley as the current school board chairman. His appointment expires on Dec. 31, 2020. Grimley is a retired educator, who taught for 10 years in Page County before taking a position in Shenandoah County where he became an elementary school principal. He did not run to retain the chairman’s seat.
Grimley replaced 16-year school board member Randy Bailey, who resigned suddenly on Nov. 1, 2019, citing health reasons. The unexpired term runs through Dec. 31, 2021.
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