LUMBERTON — Non-incumbents snagged at least 13 seats on municipal boards during Tuesday’s election, with other seats undecided until ballots cast in favor of write-in candidates are tallied.
G.L. Pridgen, director of the Robeson County Board of Elections, said late Tuesday night that officials will be working today and Thursday to break down the total votes awarded to write-in candidates in each municipality and determine if any one contender snagged a seat.
He said individual polling sites have the names of each write-in candidates thrown a vote, but that the Board of Elections did not have that information this morning. Write-in ballots will determine results in Parkton, McDonald, Lumber Bridge and Orrum.
Pembroke’s Town Council, however, was unchanged by election results. Theresa Locklear will return to her council seat, which doesn’t expire until 2017, after an unsuccessful bid for mayor of the town.
Incumbents Ryan Sampson and Larry McNeill won re-election with 347 and 268 votes, respectively. Challengers Jan Lowery and Charles Freddie Oxendine received 156 and 144 votes, respectively.
In Fairmont, former Mayor Charles Kemp snagged a seat on the town board after earning the most votes, 364, in a field of six. Kemp served as a commissioner for 28 years and as mayor for eight years before losing a bid for r-eelection in 2013.
Incumbent Jeffery J. McCree held onto his seat with 312 votes, while incumbent Carol-Leak McKenzie’s 169 votes did not win her another term. Challenger Cassandra Gaddy will enter the board, with 292 votes. Melvin Ellison and Lynnettah Hunt, also challengers, garnered 284 and 244 votes respectively.
In Maxton, three challengers emerged from a crowded field of 11 candidates vying for seats on the town board. They are Paul McDowell, who won 250 votes; James McDougald, who won 219 votes; and Elizabeth McEachin Gilmore, who won 179.
Incumbents Cynthia “Tiny” Johnson and Victor Womack lost their seats, earning 125 and 161 votes respectively. The third open seat was vacated by Mark D. McEachin, who did not seek re-election.
Challenger Jean Teeters earned 58 votes; Nathaniel Malloy, 88; Robert Lee McRae, 33; Patricia Johnson, 31; Virgil Hutchinson, 146; and William Harold Seate, 108.
Red Springs Commissioner Duron Burney kept his seat on the council, receiving 289 votes. Incumbent David Shook lost his seat, receiving 254 votes — one too few to beat out challenger Shearlie McBryde. Caroline Sumpter took a third seat, which Commissioner Robert Hollingsworth did not file to keep, after receiving 298 votes.
The St. Pauls Board of Commissioners will have to appoint someone to fill the unexpired term of Jerry Weindel, who on Tuesday defeated longtime Mayor Gordon Westbrook for the mayorship by three votes. There is a chance that result could change, however.
Challengers Jerry Quick and Evans Jackson Jr. won the two seats, including one held by incumbent Sandra Graham Cain. Quick earned 194 and Jackson earned 164 to Cain’s 117.
Challengers John Edward Gudauskas Jr. and Brice Altman received 58 and 26 votes respectively.
McDonald councilmembers Dannie Bacot and William Britt were unopposed and held on to their seats with 26 votes each. A third council seat vacated by E.B. Morton will be filled by a write-in candidate.
Incumbents locked down two of the five available seats on the Parkton Board of Alderman. Doris Underwood and Nathaniel Solomon were definite winners, earning 53 and 46 votes respectively. Challenger Annette McKelvie McColl took the third seat with 41 votes.
The other seats will have to be decided once the Board of Elections can determine who snagged the 39 votes awarded to write-in candidates. Incumbents Robin Hill and Wanda B. Matute both received 38 votes.
Challengers Jo Ann Baldwin, Melody Britt and Kristian Phillips received 38, 21 and 18 votes respectively.
In Marietta, incumbent board members Walter Powell and Mae Thelma Williams were unopposed for their seats on the board. They earned 15 votes each.
Three incumbent Proctorville aldermen, Deborah Connor, Jennifer Connor and Virginia Ivey, were unopposed and earned nine votes each.
Three Raynham council members Datry Hunt, Martha Watts and Kathleen Lindsay were also unchallenged in their bids for reelection, winning 12 votes each.
Rennert council incumbents Shirley Ashford Tolson, Brenda Locklear and Vivian W. McRae were also unchallenged and were re-elected with 43, 51 and 46 votes, respectively.
In Rowland, board incumbents Betty J. Boyd and Allen Jean Love, who earned 137 and 153 votes respectively, were unopposed and will serve another term.
No one filed for two seats on the Lumber Bridge council, or for four aldermen seats in Orrum. The Board of Elections will determine which write-in candidates will fill those seats.
All results are not official until canvassed on Nov. 10.
