His election will stand because first incumbent Curtis Ratliff said he will not ask for a run-off election yesterday, then challenger James Whitt made the same announcement today.
“This is something new for me, and I know there’s a lot I have to learn,” Jones said after learning he earned the seat on the council. “I will try my best, and that’s why I didn’t make any promises, because this is new territory for me. I’ll have to get in there and do my job and do what I can to do what’s right.”
He said he wished to thank all the voters who cast a ballot for him, as well as thank his opponents for participating in the election.
“I won’t be asking for a run-off,” Whitt said Thursday afternoon. “But I would like to thank everyone who voted for me.” He got a total of 27 votes.
Whitt said he would continue to try to improve the Town of Dobbins Heights despite not being elected, and looks forward to playing a role calling attention to the needs of the town.
Results of the Dobbins Heights election will be certified Tuesday.
That vote kicked off the 2009 municipal election season, which will now be in full-swing for the next three weeks in the cities of Rockingham and Hamlet, as well as the towns of Ellerbe and Hoffman.
Signs for mayoral and council candidates already dot the roadways and public space in the cities of Rockingham and Hamlet.
The voter registration deadline for those Nov. 3 elections is today at 5 p.m., according to an elections official.
At the Board of Elections Office Thursday, the three members of the
Richmond County Board of Elections sat down to go over provisional ballots before a hand-count of Dobbins Heights ballots.
“I have a question about the ballot that says she doesn’t live there,” Chairwoman Hilda Pemberton asked as the meeting was called to order.
Two of the five provisional ballots cast in the election were thrown-out, highlighting the necessity that voters provide accurate information about their residential address and to meet the deadline for voter registration.
Each of the two votes went uncounted due to one of these reasons.
“We’re hoping to have record numbers turn out to vote in the municipal elections, too, with the mayoral and council races in Rockingham and Hamlet being contested,” Richmond County Board of Elections Director Connie Kelly previously said to the Daily Journal.
The races in Hoffman and Ellerbe in 2009 will see incumbent town council members running unopposed, while Hoffman Mayor Jo Ann Thomas and Ellerbe mayoral candidate Olivia Webb is also running unopposed.
In Rockingham, long-term Mayor Gene McLaurin will be challenged by retired justice system worker and Richmond County Board of Education member Bruce Stanback.
Three seats on the Rockingham City Council are up for grabs, with incumbents Steve Morris, John Hutchinson and Shirley Fuller being pitted against challengers Teressa Beavers, Travis Billingsley and Jerry Austin Jr.
In Hamlet, Mayor Jeff Smart will be challenged by current Councilman Jesse McQueen for his office.
The council race pits one incumbent and two challengers vying for two seats. Incumbent Abbie Covington seeks to retain her seat, while challengers Dr. Diane Honeycutt and Jonathan Buie seek to gain the seat McQueen forfeited to run for mayor.
The Dobbins Heights election brought more than 21 percent of the town’s 606 registered voters, with 130 valid votes being cast and only the two provisional ballots not meeting election requirements.
Incumbent David won her second consecutive term on the town council, garnering 105 of the 130 votes.
Jones had the second highest tally, with 47 votes.
Whitt captured 27 votes, and there were 35 votes for write-in candidates.
Though it is unclear if all 35 of these votes were for Ratliff, he did have the majority of the write-in votes.
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