The Burke County Board of Elections broke a tie in a Hildebran town council race on Friday, drawing the winning name, Candice Withers, from a star-spangled top hat.
Michael Smith (left) shakes hands with Hildebran town council race opponent and winner Candice Withers following her victory.
JACOB CHRISTOPHER / THE PAPER
Withers originally tied with Michael Smith at 207 votes. When four more provisional votes rolled in, Withers and Smith both bumped up to 208 votes each.
On Friday, the Burke County Board of Elections placed four folded pieces of card stock into a hat — two for each contestant — and Chair Anthony Iovino drew the winning name.
“I am really passionate about the town growing,” Withers said. “I was born and raised there and I just want to see it grow. I love the small town aspect of it, but I also believe that we can grow and still have that small-town feel.
“We needed some young faces, some new faces. I want to be able to grow the town for the youth. I want the youth to come back.”
BURKE ELECTION STATISTICS
In the same meeting, the board removed three ballots that had been cast in early elections — one due to a death following an Oct. 20 early vote and two due to same-day registration discrepancies that couldn’t be ironed out by the deadlines — and added one, which had been mistakenly placed in an emergency slot on one of the voting machines at the change-of-address voting for Burke residents who’d moved since registering.
Burke County Board of Elections Director Kenny Rhyne reviews the total voter breakdown.
JACOB CHRISTOPHER / THE PAPER
In total, Burke County had a 49.87% turnout of registered voters, or 30,347 ballots cast.
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