MACON, Ga. — It appears that the race to be Macon-Bibb County’s next mayor will continue for another two months.
That’s because neither of the five candidates running for the top spot in county government received a majority of the vote, so an Aug. 11 run-off is likely between Miller and Whitby.
We say likely, because the Bibb County Board of Elections says 8,000 absentee ballots must still be counted and they have until Friday to complete that.
Based on the unofficial voting data from all 31 precincts without those absentee ballots, Lester Miller received 13,186 votes, while Cliffard Whitby received 8,456 votes.
Here’s more information on the two candidates:
Lester Miller
Miller was one of the first candidates to enter the race.
He's a familiar face in Macon. He played baseball at Southwest High School and got his bachelors and law degree at Mercer University.
He's now a sole practitioner at his Macon law firm downtown. He's served on the Bibb County Board of Education for the past seven years and was board president three of the last four.
Miller said two of his priorities are lowering the crime rate and improving the staffing numbers for public safety workers. He promised to improve that in a campaign ad.
He said a solution is to implement his Justice Works program. It would require felons, convicted of non-violent crimes, to work jobs while incarcerated.
Miller said if the county focuses on public safety, it could also help with commercial blight and bringing business back to Macon -- another one of his priorities.
Other issues he addressed in his campaign are balancing the budget, lowering taxes and improving schools.
Cliffard Whitby
Whitby was born and raised in Macon's Unionville neighborhood and has run businesses in this city for decades.
He's also worked to bring some more businesses to Bibb County as a developer and former chairman of the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority.
After being acquitted on federal laundering and bribery charges in October 2018, Whitby said the community has been split and divided. He added that he wanted to heal the community.
Whitby said he wanted to tackle crime and blight by getting to the roots of the problem with a six-point plan he announced last November.
He says the school system is failing and that's affecting economic development. He says companies that might move to Macon turn away because of the workforce.
Whitby says to bust blight, the county has to address the "human components" that affect neighborhoods.
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