Written by: Sam Garrett
Blowing Rock, NC – With combined votes reported from Watauga and Caldwell counties, Doug Matheson and Wayne Miller were elected to serve as members of the Blowing Rock Town Council. Each will serve four-year terms. The third open seat will likely require a recount between Melissa Tausche and Pete Gherini. Incumbent Mayor Charlie Sellers was re-elected to serve a two-year term.
Election day started early at the American Legion building in Blowing Rock. It was 37 degrees and windy when the doors opened at 6:30. Lynn Lawrence was the first to arrive ready to vote as she kicked off the 2025 election in Blowing Rock. She spoke with High Country Press as she exited the polling place.
“I always vote,” Lawrence said. “Voting is my obligation and a privilege.”
By noon, the vote count was 218, which was a good turnout for an off-year election.
“I have been working at this voting location in Blowing Rock for well over 20 years,” said Chief Judge Gwen Barefoot. “Two-hundred-eighteen is a high number for noon.”
Election officials said candidates complied with requirements to stay away from the entrance and did not interfere with the voting process. The day was without incident.
The final vote count will be official after the county canvas on November 14. The final tallies are as follows:
Mayor
Charlie Sellers: 489
Town Council
Pete Gherini: 280
Doug Matheson: 453
Wayne Miller: 416
Melissa Pickett: 121
Melissa Tausche: 288
Matheson and Miller, along with the winner of the recount between Tausche and Gherini, will join David Harwood and Cat Perry on the Blowing Rock Town Council. Harwood and Perry were elected in 2023. Harwood received the highest number of votes in that election with 424 votes, carrying 32.7% of the total. Perry received 412 votes, accounting for 31.8% of the total. Both Harwood and Perry will serve until the 2027 election.
In 2023, Charlie Sellers received 565 votes, carrying 91.7% of the total for mayor, with 51 voters opting to write in candidates, representing 8.2% of the total.
The vote counts for Tausche and Gherini have been close since first reported after the polls closed. Around 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Blowing Rock election officials announced that the vote count for Gherini was 221 and Tausche with 201. Once the 113 early votes were counted, the vote count went up to 261 for both Gherini and Tausche. Each candidate received 16 votes from Caldwell County which increased both totals to 277. Then, less than 20 minutes after the mail-in ballots were reported, some provisional ballots were added to the vote count bringing the new totals to 280 for Gherini and 288 for Tausche. Because the percentage difference between the two candidates is less than 1%, Gherini may elect to demand a recount any time before 5:00 p.m. on November 4, 2025.
High Country Press will follow this story.
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