CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) — The election for the District 8 City Council Seat will be decided in a runoff on September 15.
Candidate Marie Mott was surprised to learn that the election was not over after she won the popular vote last Thursday.
“Unfortunately, none of knew that that was going to happen, and I don’t think that it was unfortunate that the community, as well as me and Malorie [Marsh], did not know when we ran, that that was going to be a requirement,” said Mott.
There were three candidates in the general election, but the runoff will be between only two — Marie Mott and Marvene Noel.
In order to win in the general, candidates needed more than fifty percent of the votes, and none of the candidates met this requirement.
According to Mott, the City Council decided on a majority requirement due to the unique nature of the election, in which the incumbent was appointed by the City Council to fill a vacancy.
“I think the community should have known that up front and the City Council should have been more up front, because I think the news was, news outlets were very confused, as well as a lot of , now, community members don’t understand what the runoff is, and have to come back out and vote, and they should’ve known that up-front,” Mott said.
Mott’s concerns were echoed on Friday by the Unity Group, who don’t doubt the legitimacy of the process, but feel it should have been more clearly communicated to the public.
