The Chatham County Board of Elections’ canvass on Friday of votes from November’s municipal elections resulted in no changes in results tabulated on election night.
In Pittsboro, voter turnout was 33 percent, with 1,014 of the town’s 3,120 eligible voters casting their ballots. Jim Nass, who was unopposed for Pittsboro mayor, received 732 votes. There were 65 write-in votes cast in the race, including ballots for James Pharr, outgoing Mayor Cindy Perry, Mayor Pro-tem Pamela Baldwin, former mayor Randy Voller, and City Tap co-owner Seth Wood, as well as Mickey Mouse, Elvis, Buddha and Bill the Cat.
Kyle Shipp topped the election for one of three available Pittsboro town board seats with 624 votes, followed by incumbents John Bonitz (with 506 votes) and J.A. “Jay” Farrell (with 465 votes). There were only a handful of write-in votes for the Pittsboro commissioner election including one simply cast for “Cash.”
In Siler City, turnout in the West Siler City precinct was slightly higher than that of the East Siler City precinct — 26 percent versus nearly 23 percent. In all of Siler City, 758 of the 3,162 eligible voters cast their votes, giving the town a nearly 24 percent turnout overall. Mayor John Grimes earned 468 votes to challengers Albert Reddick’s 176 votes and Jackie Adams’ 110 votes. There were no write-in votes for that race.
Incumbents Chip Price, Larry Cheek and Bill Haiges were all unopposed in their races for Siler City Board of Commissioners. Curtis Brown won the District 3 seat against incumbent Michael Constantino by more than 100 votes. The Siler City commissioner races had multiple write-in votes cast, with incumbent commissioner Cheek earning a write-in vote for each district except District 4.
Candidate filing for the 2020 primary elections will begin on Dec. 2. Candidates for the federal offices of U.S. Congress and Senate, state offices for Governor, Lt. Governor and the Council of State will all be on the ballot for next year. In addition, there will be opportunities to vote for justices on the N.C. Supreme Court, Court of Appeals judges and District Court judges.
Locally, candidates for the N.C. House and Senate, Chatham County Board of Commissioners, Register of Deeds and Board of Education will also begin filing on Dec. 2. Candidate filing ends at noon on Monday, Dec. 20.
Reporter Casey Mann can be reached at CaseyMann@Chathamnr.com.