Mitchell's Lead Narrows to 7 Votes over DeRito in Alpharetta City Council Post 1 Race

Donald Mitchell still leads in the Alpharetta City Council Post 1 seat, but the margin is down to seven votes as the Fulton County elections website continues to update figures.. The new vote total shows Mitchell leading 1,070 votes to 1,063 votes for DeRito. Add to that provisional ballots not being counted yet and the race could still change.

The total number of votes in the 20 precincts – but not including the precinct designated for provisional ballots – rose from 2,118 to 2,145.

As he and his supporters had different totals from what was posted at the precincts themselves, Mitchell said after that first "100 percent" total that he was "not at all in any position to concede defeat."

He and his campaign supporters say Fulton County has not properly reported one precinct. The 75-80 votes Mitchell expects to get from the precinct at the Alpharetta Community Center would easily put him above DeRito's total, he said.

"We've got a whole precinct at the Alpharetta Community Center which we won 2-1, which we do not feel was adequately counted," Mitchell said.

He also points to an entire street of voters having to vote on provisional ballots because the county's voting machines did not accept their identifications. A system error was reported instead. Mitchell said those votes still haven't been reported, but it was a neighborhood he considered as supporters

There were almost as many write-in votes as the margin of victory, with 12 people picking someone other than the two candidates.

Voter turnout is ranging from 1.87 to 9.93 percent in the city, according to the unofficial returns.

Winning candidates will take office in January 2014.

ALPHARETTA CITY COUNCIL P1

2145 total votes        (20 precincts reporting of 20)

100.00% reporting

DOUGLAS J. DERITO  1063   49.56%

DONALD MITCHELL (I)        1070   49.88%

Write-in          12       0.56%

ALPHARETTA CITY COUNCIL P2 1800 total votes        (20 precincts reporting of 20)

100.00% reporting

MIKE KENNEDY (I)  1751   97.28%*

Write-in          49       2.72%

ALPHARETTA CITY COUNCIL P3 1771 total votes        (20 precincts reporting of 20)

100.00% reporting

CHRIS OWENS (I)     1716   96.89%*

Write-in          55       3.11%

* Winning candidate in unofficial returns.