Sandlin wins Lake Park mayor's race by two votes

Jun. 1—LAKE PARK — The official results are in and Lake Park has a new mayor — by a razor-thin margin.

Jean Sandlin, widow of the late mayor Keith Sandlin, won with a two-vote margin of 114 votes against Brent E. Hudgins' 112 votes, Lowndes County Elections Supervisor Deb Cox said.

The election was held May 24 but the results weren't official until later in the week after 80 provisional ballots were checked to see if any of them would apply to the Lake Park race.

Under Georgia law, the loser in an election can request a recount if the winner's margin was less than 0.5%. In the case of the Lake Park election, the 0.5% requirement translates to a one-vote margin; the loser would have to be trailing by a single vote to request a recount. Cox said she hasn't heard of a recount request.

Jean Sandlin is now the fourth Lake Park mayor in less than a year.

Mayor Keith Sandlin died Aug. 20, moving mayor pro-tem Ronald Carter into the acting mayor's spot.

in January, Carter stepped down as acting mayor for health reasons. Newly elected councilman Oscar Griffin Jr., attending his first council meeting, was chosen as mayor pro-tem and immediately became, to all intents and purposes, Lake Park's first Black mayor.

The May 24 vote was a special election to fill the late Mayor Sandlin's seat for the remainder of his term — about six months. The regularly scheduled mayor's election follows in November.

Both Jean Sandlin and Hudgins are running for the mayor's post again in November, Cox said.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.