Voters want Elahu Gosney, Jim Sands and Amy Flowers to represent the Democratic Party in Athens City Council’s at-large seats, according to last night’s final numbers from the Athens County Board of Elections.

Incumbent Flowers led the polls with 1,072 votes, followed by incumbent Sands with 1,028 votes and newcomer Gosney with 1,000 votes. Incumbent Carol Patterson came in last in that race with 817 votes.

“People are changing the status quo all across the board today,” Gosney said.

Two other people filed Monday to run against the Democrats in November’s general election: write-in candidate Cindy Johnson, and an Independent, Troy Gregorino, who is a musician with the local band The Jarts. Neither are students at Ohio University, said Flowers, an OU graduate student.

The three Democratic winners have different goals for the at-large positions. Flowers looks forward to continuing her work on transportation issues, such as bicycle and pedestrian safety. Gosney said he is excited to work with the local Sierra Club on the environmentally based Cool Cities initiative, fight global warming and deal with environmental issues in Athens. Sands is anxious to work with the city’s comprehensive plan to improve the quality of life for citizens of Athens, he said.

Election day was also an opportunity for last-minute campaigning. Gosney walked South Court Street yesterday afternoon with his election sign, and said he called many of his supporters to make sure they had voted.

Flowers focused on passing out literature in the student precincts and worked with the OU College Democrats to earn her votes, she said. Flowers said she never expected to receive the most votes.

Carol Patterson could not be reached for this story because she is attending to an out-of-state family emergency, but Flowers said Patterson was an inspiration to her.

“I think that it just so happens that the Halloween issue with the fence really broke her election,” Flowers said of Patterson’s support of the fence. “She did what she thought was necessary and it just so happens that the constituents didn’t approve of it.”

Sands predicted that in the next two years, City Council will deal with many of the initiatives that were mentioned in the comprehensive plan and enacting the legislation to make those effective.