By Mark Woolsey

A Pair of Marietta City Council races in which no candidate racked up at least 50 percent of the vote on Nov. 4 were apparently decided in a Tuesday runoff.

In unofficial vote totals, Daniel Gaddis beat Nora Gaudet, 698 votes to 390 in Ward 3 as Gaddis racked up 64.15 percent of the 1,088-vote total while Gaudet managed 35.85 percent.

In Ward 5, challenger Reggie  Copeland fell to incumbent Carlyle Kent by a 495-120 vote margin. Kent earned 80.49 percent of the vote while Copeland ran a distant second with 19.51 percent. A total of 615 votes were cast in Ward 5.

The results are considered unofficial until certified by the Cobb County Elections Board on Dec. 8.

In both cases, no candidate garnered at least 50 percent of the vote in three-way races, triggering the runoffs.

Election observers described both advance voting and election day turnout as very light.