CHARLES TOWN – With all precincts reporting, Republican incumbent Jennifer Maghan was the clear winner in the race for the Jefferson County clerk seat.

With about 47 percent of registered voters casting ballots, Maghan walked away with 8,508 votes, or 56 percent.

Maghan’s Democratic challenger Ronda Lehman trailed by 1,843 votes; she garnered 6,665 votes, or 43.9 percent.

“Incredible voter turnout,” said Maghan, whose office is in charge of voter registration and elections. “I’m so excited that Jefferson County citizens got out the vote. This has been a wonderful, wonderful day.”

Maghan was at the Jefferson County Courthouse tallying and announcing results as they came in, as part of the duties of the county clerk.

The last precinct’s ballots arrived at 8:53 p.m., and by about 9 p.m. Maghan was announcing cumulative results.

Maghan said she is thrilled to serve the county for another term.

“Thank you voters of Jefferson County for believing in me and casting your ballot. I promise to do a good job for another six years and keep that good government going,” she said.

The 38-year-old Summit Point resident has served as Jefferson County clerk for the past six years.

Maghan made headlines in the weeks and months leading up to the election when the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the circuit court decision to withhold petitioners’ names from a local newspaper. In recent weeks, the Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee also filed a complaint to the Secretary of State’s Office because of a mass mailing that went out shortly after early voting began. The postcard included where, when and how to vote, and committee representatives said they were concerned that there was a conflict of interest because Maghan’s name and the county clerk’s seal were printed on the front of the mailing.

Maghan is now focusing on the future. Records management, file up-keep and software upgrades are on her mind.

“We want to tighten up even our great elections to get them a little more tighter than they were,” she said. “Things were very smooth, but there’s always room for improvement everywhere and we like to tweak everything and make it a well-oiled machine.”