By Tim Gardner
Three first-time candidates for county offices and two incumbents won in their respective races to highlight Tuesday’s Primary Election in Avery County.
In the Republican County Commissioners race, incumbent Dennis Aldridge received the highest number of votes with 1,860. His fellow-incumbent, Tim Phillips, finished second with 1,841 votes. Junior Benfield finished third with 1,661 votes. Jason Grindstaff was fourth with 1,396 votes. Former county commissioner Bill Beuttell finished fifth with 1,387 votes and Josh Aldridge was sixth with 792 votes.
The top three in votes received during the Primary Election will run against Democrat Mike Minter and any other write-in candidates in the General Election on November 5. The three candidates receiving the most votes then will fill the seats open on the Board.
The top two vote-getters for County Commissioner in the General Election will receive four-year terms, while the third-place finisher will get a two-year term.
In the non-partisan Avery Board of Education race, Michelle Krege Burnop received the most votes with 2,261. Finishing second was Linda Webb, who got 1,885 votes. David Wright followed in third. He got 1,781 votes.
Casey Lee finished fourth with 1,454 votes. Jason Coleman got 987 votes to finish fifth. Ivy Vance Stafford received 600 votes for sixth place. Jeffrey Keller followed with 501 votes for seventh place. And Scott Stanford got 455 votes to finish eighth.
Additionally, there were 48 write-in votes for Board of Education.
In the Board of Education race, those who won the primary election were automatically elected and do not have to run in the General Election in November. There are also no run-off or second primary elections in a non-partisan North Carolina Board of Education race, meaning that a candidate does not have to obtain a certain percentage of the vote to avoid a run-off or second primary.
Like the county commission, there are normally five Avery Board of Education members, but there has been only four since the June 2022 resignation of former Board member Ruth Shirley. The current Board members did not agree on who should be appointed to replace Shirley in several in-house votes taken, each ending in a 2-2 deadlock. A 4-0 or 3-1 majority vote was required to appoint a new member.
But the current Board of Education members decided by a unanimous 4-0 vote at their December 12, 2023 regular monthly meeting to appoint the candidate who received the most votes in the election to begin serving in March to fill the Board vacancy to add to his or her regular term, which will start this summer. Therefore, Burnop will be sworn in this month. She, Webb, and Wright will then begin their regular four-year terms on July 9 when they will be sworn in at that month’s Board of Education meeting.
Benfield, Burnop, and Wright are first-time political candidates in Avery’s county-wide elections.
Only 34.49 percent of ballots were cast in Avery County during this year’s Primary Election as just 4,423 of 12,824 registered voters voted.
763 voted early, according to Avery Board of Elections Director Shelia Ollis.
Avery Elections officials caution that all primary results are unofficial until an official elections canvass conducted by Avery Board of Elections officials ends on Friday, March 15. Voting results will then be certified and become official. For all other contests, the State Board of Elections will certify final results on Tuesday, March 26, following its canvass.
Incumbent Erin Grindstaff English is running for Avery County Register of Deeds, but she did not have to run in the Primary Election as she had no opposition. She will be on the ballot in November’s General Election.
Although an incumbent, English will also be a first-time candidate. She was appointed Register of Deeds by the Avery County Republican (GOP) Executive Committee when former Register of Deeds Renee Dellinger retired on March 31, 2023.
English was an Assistant Register of Deeds at the time of her promotion to Register of Deeds after having also previously served as a Deputy Register of Deeds.
The Register of Deeds post is for a four-year term.
Like the County Commission, the Register of Deeds race can also have write-in candidates for the General Election.
To run in a county office in the General Election as a write-in candidate, that person or those persons must obtain a petition of a minimum of 100 signatures of Avery County’s registered voters endorsing such a candidacy. And that petition must be submitted to Avery County Board of Elections officials at least 90 days (August 7) before the General Election.
Dozens of candidates for federal, state government, and legislative and judicial seats also appeared on primary ballots and those primary election results also set the fall election lineups.
All county, regional, state, and federal Primary Election final results can be accessed at:
https://www.ncsbe.gov/election-results
Avery’s election results are available online at:
https://er.ncsbe.gov/?election_dt=03/05/2024&county_id=6&office=ALL&contest=0
Then click on “View Contest Details” and next “Detailed Results” in the respective races to see the total number of votes candidates received in each county precinct. “Results By Voting Method” may also be accessed under “View Contest Details.”
For more details about voting, to view previous election results, or for related information, call the North Carolina State Board of Elections office at (919) 814-0700 or log onto its Internet website at: ncsbe.gov.
Election information may also be obtained by calling your local Board of Elections office. The Avery County Board of Elections telephone number is: (828) 733-8282.
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