The race for Covington city council’s Post 1 West Ward seat was a close one with just 14 votes separating incumbent Janet Goodman from the newly elected Kenneth Morgan.

The election for that seat was also a poorly attended one with a total of 326 votes cast among the 2,851 registered voters (11.4 percent) in Covington’s west ward. Just 89 people cast a vote in person on Election Day. The people who cast a vote on Nov. 3 had to do so at Covington City Hall, per the municipal election rules set forth by the board of elections.

West Ward voters were also eligible to vote for District 43 of the State Senate, which was holding a special election after Senator Ronald Ramsey took a judgeship and resigned from his post. However, those votes had to be cast at each individual precinct, per county election rules set forth by the board of elections.

That means those who lived in the West Ward of Covington as well as Senate District 43 had to go to two different polling places on Election Day.

A total of 12 Newton County precincts were involved in the special election. Two of those precincts also have voters in Covington’s West Ward: Town precinct, at the Washington Street Community Center at 4138 School Street, Covington, and Cedar Shoals, at Porterdale Baptist Church, 2 Palmetto Street, Porterdale.

Those two precincts combined have a total of 4,531 registered voters. On Election day, 146 people voted for a state senate candidate in Town precinct and 95 at Cedar Shoals.

The two precincts combined for 241 votes in person on Election Day, 33.6 percent more than the in-person votes garnered for the city council seat. Among those 241 voters, the Newton County Board of Elections does not have information on who also voted at City Hall for the Post 1 seat.

According to Newton County Board of Elections Director Angela Mantle, the occurrence of voters having to go to two different precincts is a rare one.

“It’s not that common that we have two separate elections,” Mantle said. “It’s just that we had the special election on the same day.”

Typically, county elections occur in even years and municipal elections in odd years.

Voters in Porterdale also had to go to two separate locations: Porterdale Baptist Church for the special election and the Porterdale Fire Station for city election.

All voters had a chance to cast their ballot in the same location during early voting, which took place at the Newton County Administration Building.

Mantle said the board of elections has not had any complaints as of Thursday and was not considering making any adjustments to their rules or operating procedures.