Election Watch: Outstanding absentee ballots could alter outcome of Statesville Council race

Posted on by Mike Fuhrman

FROM STAFF REPORTS

The race for two at-large seats on the Statesville City Council could come down to vote-by-mail absentee ballots and provisional ballots.

After all of the early voting and election ballots were tallied on Tuesday, Kimberly Wasson led the three-candidate field with 1,539 votes. Incumbent Steve Johnson was second with 1,516 votes and James Pressly was third with 1,509 votes.

So 30 votes separates first and third place, and only seven votes separates second and third.

According to Iredell County elections officials, 33 of the 88 absentee ballots that were mailed out have not been returned, and there is one provisional ballot that was cast that will be counted pending approval of the Board of Elections.

Absentee ballots must be postmarked by July 26 and be received by the Elections Office by July 29 in order to be counted.

The Board of Elections will meet at 11 a.m. on August 5 for the official canvass. During that meeting, any additional absentee and provisional ballots would be counted and the official results released.

The third-place finisher would have until August 8 to request a recount. If there is a tie for second place, the winner would be determined by coin toss or a drawing.

VOTER TURNOUT

A total of 2,895 ballots were cast in the Statesville run-off election. There are 18,240 registered voters in the city. That equates to a voter turnout of 15.8 percent.

WRITE-IN EFFORT

If ever there was a time for a write-in candidate to win, it might have been Tuesday in the Town of Mooresville.

In the Ward 3 race, which was won by Tommy DeWeese with 112 votes, about 50 people voted for Mitch Abraham by writing in his name, according to elections officials. Second-place finisher Kevin Kasel garnered 74 votes.

In the Ward 4 race, Mayor Pro Tem Lisa Qualls, who was unopposed, won with 31 votes. Write-in candidates received 9 votes.

HOW STATESVILLE VOTED

In the Statesville mayoral race, incumbent Costi Kutteh secured a fifth term by winning handily in Wards 1,2,4 and 5, while challenger Brian Summers prevailed by smaller margins in Wards 3 and 6.

In the Statesville council race, third-place finisher James Pressly actually received the most votes on Election Day, but Kim Wasson and Steve Johnson had more support among early voters and absentee vote-by-mail voters.  

Wasson won the vote in Wards 3,5 and 6. Johnson received the most votes in Wards 1 and 4. And Pressly prevailed in Ward 2.

3 thoughts on “Election Watch: Outstanding absentee ballots could alter outcome of Statesville Council race”

  2. John Kindleyl says:

    The general election had far more voters than the runoff election. The runoff will ultimately determine the outcome of the mayoral and council race. Steve Johnson easily won the general election and now could lose in an election that very few turned out to vote. Is this a good system?

  3. Gary W Thomas says:

    I believe (could be in error) that if Kim Wasson is elected, she will be the first African American elected citywide in Statesville

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