Henke edges Reid in school board election

By Carey Phillips

Unofficial returns from election night showed Henke leading John Reid by 10 votes. After provisional ballots were counted, Henke finished with a 15-vote margin.

Of the 38 provisional ballots cast, the Board of Elections allowed 27 to be counted. Most provisional ballots are cast by voters whose names do not appear on rolls at the polls. If the Board of Elections confirms they are legally registered, the votes are counted.

Sarah Altman picked up 10 votes among the provisional ballots, followed by Henke with seven, Gene Robinson with three and Reid with two.

The official totals showed Henke with 1,405 votes, Reid with 1,390, Robinson with 1,174 and Altman with 1,057.

"Primarily, I hope to do my best," Henke said. "I see it as a job that lies ahead and hope I can fulfill the job that needs to be done."

Because the difference in vote totals was less than 1 percent of ballots cast, Reid had the right to request a recount but declined to do so.

"I didn't want to have the same ballots put through the same machines," Reid said. "I felt it was best for me to put this election behind me and move on ahead. I wish the school board the best."

Vote totals from machines are rechecked during the canvass, but absentee ballots are not recounted until requested by a candidate.

A scanner was used to count absentee ballots this year. In previous elections, absentee ballots were counted by hand.

"It's very accurate," Election Director Lisa Lehman said of the new method for counting absentees. "It cut by a third the people we needed to count absentees. "When you have 20 people counting, you have a greater chance of human error," she continued. "With the scanner there is almost no chance of error as long as it's programmed right."

Other final official totals for county races in Democratic primaries included:

Commission chairman ­ Stacy Buchanan, 2,479; Gene Middleton, 1,603.

Commission District 2 ­ Brian McMahan, 2,062; Frank Burrell, 1,623; Maurice Moody, 625.

Sheriff ­ Jimmy Ashe, 2,038; Jim Cruzan, 1,318; Larry Bryson, 775; Joe Frigo, 474.

In Jackson County, Phil Haire received 2,794 votes for N.C. House from District 119 to 1,596 for Troy Burns. Haire was also the winner districtwide.

Approximately 25 percent of the county's 22,986 registered voters cast ballots on new voting machines.

"For the first time using the machines, things went wonderfully," Lehman said. "It's because of the hard work of our precinct workers and the technicians."

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