Amy Fowler won the race for the Orange County Board of Commissioners At-Large seat Tuesday night, while the District 1 race was so close, it may not be decided until later in the week.

Fowler ran against incumbent Mark Marcoplos, who had served the previous term in the at-large seat.

After early polling results came in, Fowler held around 76 percent of the early votes – making up 20 percent of the total votes for the county.

After all the precincts were recorded, Fowler beat Marcoplos by more than 21,000 votes.

Following her victory, Fowler said she ecstatic with the outcome and she hopes to be an active listener to the community while on the board.

“My goal is to serve all of Orange County,” she said. “I think it’s important with any planning and decision making to be listening to people, making sure you have time for public comment and hearing what the stakeholders have to say.”

In the other race for spots on the board, Jean Hamilton beat out the two incumbents Penny Rich and Mark Dorosin for a seat in District 1. Early results showed Hamilton had a slight lead over Dorosin and Rich, remaining  37 percent of the vote in early voting and maintaining that percentage throughout Election Day.

She described to Chapelboro how it felt to join the Board of County Commissioners.

“I’m delighted with the campaign I ran and the outcome tonight,” said Hamilton. “I’m very thankful for all my supporters, volunteers, donors and voters. We hope the campaign has brought attention to the needs of the public schools in our community. We have to find a way to increase our support for education, as well as continuing to address the issues of equity, the environment and economic development.”

The other two candidates, however, are currently in a deadlock for the other seat. Rich, who is the current Chair of the Board, holds a nine-vote lead over Dorosin on Tuesday night. Incoming absentee ballots will be counted over the next few days and may play into the outcome.

For full election coverage on the other local elections, as well as state races and the 2020 Democratic primary for the presidential nomination, visit the Chapelboro elections page.

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