City of Bishop voters were in the mood for change. They elected two new faces and one incumbent for the five person Bishop City Council.

With hard work and hope invested in the campaign, nerves appeared tense as the candidates, their families, and friends gathered to watch the results come in at City Hall Tuesday night.

Candidates watched Denise Gillespie and Rick Pucci with the City of Bishop post the results as they were tallied. When the absentee ballots and precincts came in, Candidate Laura Smith received the highest number of votes with 336. Candidate David Stottlemyre received 314 votes. Incumbent Susan Cullen will stay on the council with 291 votes.

Long time council member and current mayor Martin “Smiley,” Connolly narrowly missed another term on the council. He received 273 votes. Candidate Ted Gardner received 224 votes. Candidate Mary Baker received 123 votes.

With just candidates on the ballot affecting only people who live inside the city limits, voter turn out was low. There were no voters at City Hall when we stopped by during lunch. More did show up after work. Another factor in the slow day at the polls were the more than 400 absentee ballots sent out.

In the end 603 out of roughly 1800 registered voters cast a ballot in this election.

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