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The voters have spoken in Rehoboth Beach, returning Mayor Sam Cooper and Commissioner Dennis Barbour to their posts. But the most surprising outcome of the day was the performance of newcomer Lorraine Zellers, who garnered the most votes in the entire field, defeating incumbent Ron Paterson.
Cooper defeated Commissioner Paul Kuhns, 675-534, to secure his seventh consecutive term as mayor. Kuhns will retain his seat as commissioner. Cooper received 55 percent of the vote to Kuhns’ 44 percent.
At his post-election party, Cooper said, “It feels really good. This is the one time each year that the majority of people in Rehoboth speak about what they want, and I think they have spoken today. You have to love the people in Rehoboth for caring. I had an opponent who worked pretty hard. There was a lot to overcome there.”
Cooper said he wasn’t quite ready to state how he plans to implement his platform, preservation and fiscal conservatism, but that changes would be coming as to how the city commission operates.
“I’m excited for Rehoboth, not for me. I’ve done this for 18 years, I love the town and I love the people I work with. I think I have a lot of experience, a lot of contacts and a lot of knowledge that can be put to good use for the city,” Cooper said.
Kuhns said he was disappointed and thought the race would be closer than it was. He said he was very disappointed Paterson failed to win re-election and his loss will be felt by the city.
Kuhns said his defeat was a result of two factors. First, he said Save Our City, Rehoboth’s only political action committee, supported Cooper, Barbour and Zellers.
That group was able to get people to vote early for its candidates, particularly with absentee ballots.
Kuhns also said he and Paterson had to combat negative campaigning and instead of focusing on their platform, the pair was forced to defend themselves from lies, innuendo and rumors. He said the next year will be a wakeup call for citizens who will be surprised by what changes come about in the next year.
Zellers received the most votes of any candidate with 760. Unofficially, Zellers received 230 votes via absentee ballot, with 530 more at the polls. Counting absentee ballots takes place at a public meeting, but the city does not officially release the number of absentee votes for each candidate.
Zellers said of her election, “It’s exciting, it’s scary, it’s overwhelming. I’m touched by people believing what my message was and supporting me. I’m humbled by that, I really am.”
Zellers said it was important for the commission to work together and find places where it can agree on things.
“I went into this thinking that I haven’t done this before, I don’t have a lot of experience, I don’t have all the answers but I do love this town and maybe that connected,” she said. “I know I have a lot to learn. I want to go up and meet everyone at City Hall and see how things work, but I’m up for the challenge.”
The race for the second commissioner seat, between incumbents Barbour and Paterson, ended by the narrowest of margins, nine votes. Barbour retained his seat with 627 votes to Paterson’s 618. The close race forced election officials to recount absentee ballots.
Supervisor of Elections Wayne Steele said state law mandated the recount.
“The new law governing municipal elections requires the absentee ballots be recounted if the difference between the last-place finisher and the next highest is less than one-half of 1 percent of the total votes cast for that office,” he said.
Steele said that number ended up being 10 with Barbour’s margin of victory being nine. The recount confirmed the final tally, with no new votes being picked up for either Barbour or Paterson.
Officials said 333 votes were cast for a single candidate – a process known as bullet voting.
No matter the margin, Barbour was happy to be elected to his second term, one of only two commissioners, Kathy McGuiness being the other, to be serving a second term.
“It feels great,” he said. “I was really surprised. I’m thrilled. I didn’t expect this as an outcome. You just don’t know in Rehoboth because we don’t do polling. You don’t know what the outcome of any election is going to be.”
Barbour said this was a pivotal election because it would help determine the vision for the city going forward. He said he was distressed with the way the commission was starting to do business.
“I’m excited now because we can get back to doing the people’s business. We’ve spent so much time in the last year spinning our wheels and discussing things that really are not that important to the community, and we need to get back to doing what the people want us to do. I think this election made it pretty clear what the people want us to be doing,” he said.
This year saw 83 percent of registered voters vote, down from the last mayoral election in 2005 when 88 percent of registered voters voted. There were a total of 325 absentee voters this year, down from 352 last year. This year saw 893 voters go to the polls, more than last year’s total of 854 but slightly less than in 2005 when 902 people voted at the polls.
Besides Zellers’ 230, the unofficial count of absentee votes was: Cooper – 206, Kuhns – 117, Barbour – 199 and Paterson – 124.
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