A small town North Carolina election is tied — again
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Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios
Update: Ford's name was drawn on Monday, making him the winner.
The small eastern North Carolina town of Whitakers has a tie for one of the spots on its Board of Commissioners, and it's being settled Monday by drawing a name from a box.
- And for one of the candidates, it's not the first time this has happened.
Why it matters: Law dictates that elections in North Carolina with 5,000 or fewer votes are settled by random chance.
State of play: Candidates John Ford and Janice Bellamy both received 57 votes in the municipal election Nov. 4, the state's unofficial results show.
- That places them in third and fourth place, though only three seats are available on the town board.
The intrigue: Ford also tied an incumbent candidate in 2019, and he lost that random drawing, the Rocky Mount Telegram reported.
How it works: The drawing is scheduled for 5pm Monday.
- "Two names will be placed in a box, and one will be drawn out to determine the winner," Nash County elections director John Kearney told Axios in an email.
Zoom in: The 2019 drawing was held in Edgecombe County, and this one will be held in Nash County.
- Whitakers is split between the two counties, about an hour east of Raleigh. It had a population of 627 in the 2020 Census.
What's next: The candidate who loses has 24 hours to request a recount of the original tally, Kearney told the Telegram.
