Coin flip decides Roxobel election

Published 5:10 pm Friday, November 12, 2021

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WINDSOR – It all came down to the flip of a coin.

After Dillon Pruden and Johnna Browne Lewis remained deadlocked with 30 votes each for a seat on the Roxobel Town Commissioners, a canvass of those Nov. 2 election results was performed here on Tuesday of this week. That mandated check of the votes cast still resulted in a tie.

To break the stalemate, the Bertie County Board of Elections conducted a coin toss, which resulted in Pruden being declared as the winner.

Tuesday’s canvass also declared three write-in candidates as winners.

In the race for Kelford Town Commissioner, a write-in candidate claimed one of the five available seats as Amelia Bradshaw received 19 votes. The other four seats were earned by Michael A. Johnson Sr. (42 votes), John (Timmy) Eaton (34), Ken (KC) Cain (29), and Jim T. Harrell (21). Write-in candidate Gabriel James (18 votes) and Harvey Wayne Bland (14) rounded out the balloting in Kelford.

In Roxobel, Sharon Jones, a write-in candidate, received 38 votes to gain a seat as a Town Commissioner. The other three seats there were earned by Robert Phelps (44 votes), Joseph Pittman (39), and the coin toss winner (Pruden). In addition to the 30 votes earned by Lewis, David Lee Baisey Sr. was named on 23 ballots.

Taylor Wynns received six write-in votes to gain the third, regular term seat on the Colerain Town Commission.

All other results from the Nov. 2 municipal election were certified on Tuesday of this week by the Bertie County Board of Elections as follows:

Aulander Town Commissioner (three seats) were won by Jerome Dail Jr. (90 votes), Jason Tinkham (88), and Renee’ Draper (85). Also receiving votes there were Jamie Tinkham (39) and write-in candidate Jeanette Tinkham (22).

For Mayor of Kelford, Randy D. Robtoy won that job with 29 votes followed by incumbent Mayor Bailey Parker (14) and Gary Randolph Scott Jr. (13).

Incumbent Roxobel Mayor Gary Johnson was unchallenged and earned another term with 53 votes.

Windsor also has a new Mayor after incumbent Jim Hoggard retired. Lewis Hoggard takes that job after earning 272 votes. He was unchallenged.

In the race for the two open seats for Windsor Town Commissioner, incumbent Randy Whitaker won reelection by capturing 192 votes. L.C. Hoggard III edged David L. Bunch, 149-145 for the other seat in Windsor.

All incumbents in Askewville, none of which were challenged, were certified as winners: Mayor Gloria Bryant (11 votes) along with Town Commissioners Michael Baker and Carla Pesce, each with 11 votes, while Kay Brantley had 8 votes.

In Colerain, Will Fairless and Donald H. Sumner Jr. topped the balloting with 12 and 11 votes respectively to gain two of the three regular term seats on the Town Commission. Herbert Copeland received 10 votes in Colerain to fill out an unexpired term on the Town Commission.

In Lewiston-Woodville, Mayor Chris B. Cordon won with 56 votes. The Lewiston District seat on the Town Council was earned by DiAnne Bazemore with 51 votes. Linda Gilliam won the Council’s Woodville District seat by defeating Lee Owens, 51-3.

Incumbents were unchallenged in Powellsville where Mayor James Peele (18 votes), joined Town Commissioners Hattie Askew (20), Carlyle Hoggard (15), and Gerald Waters (14) in earning reelection.

 

About Cal Bryant

Cal Bryant, a 40-year veteran of the newspaper industry, serves as the Editor at Roanoke-Chowan Publications, publishers of the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald, Gates County Index, and Front Porch Living magazine.

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