DeKalb Board of Education District 8 incumbent Pamela Speaks received 23,102 votes, or 51.53 percent, while her opponent, Michelle Clark, got 21,618 votes or 48.22 percent in Tuesday's primary election.
“I’d like to thank everybody that did vote for me and I’m grateful that they did not let the last-minute divisive tactics of my opponent sway them, because this county is divided enough,” Speaks told Patch late Tuesday night.
Speaks is referring to Clark’s robocalls and mailers pointing out that she is a Democrat and calling Speaks a Republican, even though the race for District 8 is non-partisan. Speaks said has no allegiance to any political party, only to children.
"It's a non-partisan race so politics should not have anything to do with it," Speaks said. "We need to get on the ball with making things right with these children."
Patch received an e-mail from Clark just after 6:30 a.m. Wednesday: "I would like to thank everyone who voted for me and all of my supporters. If elected, I would represent ALL children of Dekalb County ALL of the time."
In all, there were 44,835 votes, which included early voting. More than 5,000 absentee votes county-wide had yet to be counted.
District 8, a super district, includes Woodridge, Allgood and Smoke Rise elementary schools in Stone Mountain; Henderson Middle School in Chamblee, Vanderlyn Elementary in Dunwoody, and Dunwoody High School.