Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Three seats on the Windsor Town Council were available entering Election Day this year. Two occupants of those seats were confirmed as of Friday afternoon, Nov. 8, with one yet to be determined.

Town Council members whose terms expire Dec. 31 include Walter Bernacki, Jake Redd and Marlin W. Sharp.

Redd and Sharp opted to run for reelection, and Bernacki did not. Though Bernacki announced his decision in February to allow time for potential candidates to come forward, Redd and Sharp ended up being the only two qualified candidates on the ballot.

According to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections website, Redd received 985 votes (59.34% of the overall vote), and Sharp received 559 votes (33.67%), with provisional and post-election ballots still outstanding as of Friday afternoon, Nov. 8.

Isle of Wight County Director of Elections and General Registrar Lisa Betterton indicated in June that this was the first time she had encountered the scenario of having more Windsor Town Council seats up for election than qualified candidates on the ballot. She researched how the situation needed to be handled and provided the following information.

“Due to there being three seats up for election, the ballot will state ‘vote for no more than three,’ even though there will be only two candidates listed,” she stated in June. “If someone in the town should decide to run for the third seat, they will have to run a write-in campaign. Voters can vote for the two Town Council candidates and then put the name of the write-in on the Write-In line.

“I have spoken to (Windsor Town Manager) William Saunders, and we are hoping someone will show an interest in running as a write-in,” she continued in June. “If not, any name written in, even as a joke, could be the third Town Council member. If that person declines, the town council will have to appoint someone and call for a special election at a later date, hopefully November 2025.”

There were 116 write-in votes cast, equaling 6.99% of the vote.

The Windsor Weekly reached out to Betterton to learn who the occupant of the third available seat will be, but she had not responded by press time.

Saunders stated Friday morning, Nov. 8, that he did not know of any formal write-in campaigns that were mounted, but he said he understood that Bernacki was willing to be a write-in.

“I heard secondhand that LaTara Harris was interested in being a write-in candidate,” he stated. “I also saw where Raymond Miltier posted on social media that he was a write-in candidate.”