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Burke appears to have won election as 7th District School Board representative in 3-way contest

By John Murden

In easily the most interesting 7th District School Board contest since West vs Murray vs Coleman in 2006, Cheryl Burke appears to have won a 3-way contest for the seat to which she was appointed in late 2017 after Nadine Carter-Marsh stepped down due to personal reasons.

Burke has won all 5 of the of the 7 precincts in the district which have currently reported (and the absentee ballots), with a total of 56% of the vote (3,196 votes). Gary Broderick holds 2nd place with 23% (1,320 votes), with Bryce Robertson a close 3rd at 22% (1,237 votes). The two outstanding precincts – 703 (CH North/Oakwood) and 705 (Church Hill/Union Hill) are likely to have more balanced results, but are unlikely to provide enough votes to either Broderick or Robertson for them to win the election.

The day had its own little drama, with the Burke campaign accused of distributing illegal sample ballots and also using school sources to produce sample ballots. Let your take on that be a measure of your own cynicism.

Burke, appointed to the vacated seat last year, has almost 40 years experience with Richmond Public Schools as a teacher and as principal at Chimborazo ES, and won out over two younger challengers who ran to her left. Having now been popularly elected, she will hold the office until 2020 – a span which should include the construction of a new George Mason ES and perhaps Woodville ES and city-wide redistricting.

The 7th District covers Bellevue ES, Chimborazo ES, Fairfield ES, George Mason ES, Woodville ES, Armstrong HS, and Franklin Military (grades 6-12). MLK Middle School is in the 6th District.

Congrats to all three candidates on giving 7th district voters compelling reasons to vote, and congrats to all y’all that turned out and participated. Huge thanks to all of the volunteers working the polling locations today.

Results via the Virginia State Board of Elections

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7th District Precincts (Burke in blue)

8 comments

SueWho 11/07/2018 at 10:14 AM

I read the article about the ‘less than kosher’ sample ballot handed out by the Burke campaign. Was it due to a lack of attention to detail by staffers and/or naïveté, intentionally done because most voters don’t know laws governing campaign literature, or a combination of the two? Ms. Burke’s campaign certainly didn’t need to do this as she would’ve won by name recognition alone.

It also saddens me that these ballots were printed at Franklin Military instead of a commercial printing business. News such as this reinforces negative perceptions of our 7th district elected officials and their trustworthiness. RPS needs elected officials who pay attention to the tiniest of details in order to prove that they’re willing to be public servants instead of officials who are self-serving. I hope that Ms. Burke realizes this as she continues her job as our representative.

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crd 11/07/2018 at 11:21 AM

The Marsh Machine lives on, unfortunately. Of course she used school resources to get her printing done, she’s “entitled” to do that. She works there, so she should have the right to print stuff there for free, right?!

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ilya y 11/07/2018 at 12:20 PM

I think all three candidates were good so we couldn’t lose here.

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RPS student 11/07/2018 at 1:10 PM

8 precincts of 8 (100.00%) reporting
according to the VA Department of Elections:

Cheryl Burke 4,652 votes 52.04%

Gary Broderick 2,054 votes 22.98%

Bryce Robertson 2,197 votes 24.57%

write in 37 votes .41%

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Mary Wood 11/09/2018 at 2:38 PM

Congratulations are in order for Chery; Burke, former principal, and a teacher. Her educational experience is a big plus to lead our city schools to success. I believe, this decision to elect Cheryl was the best decision. Congratulations again. You have my vote to your success.

From a retired educator, who still tutors RPS students.

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DR 11/13/2018 at 1:18 PM

I have a problem with you treating write-in votes as not worthy of acknowledgment. While space might be a reason for not listing every candidate, the phrase “come on, for real” is troublesome. In this age of often close elections, understanding where votes are going is critical to voters. While this is a community site, I have come to expect better than this. Perhaps John erred in his choices.

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Jacob C. 11/13/2018 at 1:27 PM

The really funny thing is that John M wrote the article that you’re commenting on. You can see his name right under the lead image. In regard to a write-in candidate, we are not omniscient. No one mentioned a write-in candidate to us, not any of our readers, not any of the candidates, nor did any write-in candidates reach out to us. Write-in candidates accounted for .46% of the vote as far as I can tell for 7th district school board.

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Liz 11/14/2018 at 6:15 AM

Nice response Jacob C.

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