Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams fights off write-in candidate

WAYNESBORO, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams won reelection against a write-in candidate, election officials confirmed Wednesday.

The ballot tabulation was a long and laborious process because Williams, a Democrat, was in a race against Republican write-in candidate Brad Capitosti.

Williams got 72.1% of the votes while Capitosti got 27.9%.

Williams faced an early challenge from Lewis Blanchard, who used to work for Williams. But Blanchard eventually dropped out of the race.

Then Capitosti entered the race.

The campaign followed the recent resignations of several high-profile of the Burke County Sheriff’s Office.

Williams himself has been at the center of controversy for some time.

He’s facing scrutiny by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. In April, News 12 asked the GBI about the nature of its investigation, and the agency replied: “The GBI handles criminal investigations which is consistent with this preliminary inquiry.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation also looked into training records with the Waynesboro Police Department and Williams. The GBI has given the case to District Attorney Jared Williams.

News 12′s I-TEAM has examined cases that didn’t take the usual trajectory after Williams stepped in.

Those include the case against businessman Gary Flakes.

Burke County Commission District 1

Incumbent Lucious Abrams was facing two challengers on the ballot: Rodney Braswell and Frederick Lewis Jr. None of the three received 50% of the votes. Abrams got 48.9% of the votes, while Braswell got 47.2% and Lewis got 3.9%.

Burke County Commission District 3

Incumbent Evans Martin fended off a challenge from George Wimberly. Martin won 68.5% of the votes vs. 31.5% for Wimberly.

Burke County Commission District 5

Incumbent Art Lively beat challenger Pamala Bell. Lively had 56.3% of the votes vs. 43.7% for Bell.

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