By Tim Gardner
Like most parts of the United States, voters turned out in masses in Avery County during the 2024 General Election, either casting ballots in early or absentee voting or at the county’s 11 precinct polling sites (consolidated from 19 to 11 after Hurricane Helene) on General Election Day, Tuesday, November 5.
North Carolina State Board of Elections data showed that 9,439 of Avery’s 12,816 registered voters—a huge 73.65 percent–cast votes in this General Election.
Those ballots were in three county elections, including for a trio of County Commission seats, Register of Deeds, and Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisor. Also, one Town of Newland Malt Beverage Referendum, the latter of which only registered voters who live within the town’s limits may vote, was on the ballot. Additionally, elections for United States President, United States Congress, North Carolina Governor, and other state, national, and local district races were on the ballot, including N.C. House District 85, N.C. Senate District 46, numerous races for North Carolina judicial seats, and a State Constitutional Amendment Referendum to provide that only a citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age or older and possesses the qualifications for voting shall be entitled to vote in any election in the state.
Avery County voting results for local offices and the malt beverage referendum included:
*Register of Deeds–Erin Grindstaff English–7,670
Although a Republican incumbent, English was a first-time candidate in an election. 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 did not have to run in the Primary Election on March 5 as she had no opposition.
The Register of Deeds serves a four-year term.
*Four candidates ran for three seats open on the County Commission—three Republicans–Tim Phillips, Dennis Aldridge, and Junior Benfield–and Democrat Mike Minter.
Phillips and Aldridge are incumbents.
Phillips received the highest number of votes with 5,901. Benfield received the second-highest number of votes with 5,673. Aldridge finished third with 5,576 votes. Minter was fourth, garnering 2,248 votes.
The top two vote-getters (Phillips and Benfield) received four-year terms, while the third-place finisher (Aldridge) got a two-year term.
Because they were the top three in votes received during the Primary Election, Phillips, Aldridge, and Benfield ran against Minter in the General Election. Minter did not have to run in the Primary Election as he was unopposed by another Democrat.
*In the non-partisan office for Avery Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisor, Jack W. Wiseman ran unopposed, although write-in votes are allowed for this post.
Wiseman received 7,170 votes. There were also 121 write-in votes.
The term will be for four years.
If any person or persons who did not declare a write-in candidacy, but still received enough votes to win an election can accept or reject the office seat won.
*Additionally, a Town of Newland Mixed Beverage Referendum was on the county’s General Election ballot for the town’s registered voters to vote for or against permitting the sale of mixed beverages in hotels, restaurants, private clubs, community theatres, and convention centers as well as the “on-premises” and “off-premises” sale of malt beverages and unfortified wine in qualified establishments in the town.
The town’s voters approved the referendum by a 186 to 114 tally.
Avery County and district-wide voting results for other elections were:
*In the North Carolina State Senate, District 47, incumbent Republican Ralph Hise defeated Democrat Frank Patton Hughes, III in Avery County by a 6,844 to 2,132 count.
Hise also won district-wide to be reelected. He got 75,115 votes and Hughes, III received 41,921.
District 47 consists of all of Avery, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Mitchell, Yancey, and Madison counties and parts of Haywood and Caldwell counties.
*In the NC House District 85 Race, Republican incumbent Dudley Greene defeated Democrat John Ford, in Avery County by a 7,048 to 1,963 vote tally.
Greene also won the district to earn reelection, receiving 35,929 votes to Ford’s 12,474.
District 85 consists of all of Avery, Mitchell, and Yancey counties and parts of McDowell County.
*In the State of North Carolina District 35 judicial elections, there were four in which Avery voters cast ballots. Each candidate ran unopposed.
Republican incumbent Ted McEntire for Superior Court Judge, Seat 2 got 7,403 votes in Avery County and 50,384 district-wide.
Republican incumbent Rebecca Eggers-Gryder for District Court Judge, Seat 2 received 7,299 votes in Avery County and 52,934 in the whole district.
Republican Milton Fletcher for District Court Judge, Seat 3 got 7,227 votes in Avery County and 49,195 district-wide.
Democrat Incumbent Alexandria (Allie) Leake for District Court Judge, Seat 4 garnered 3,691 Avery County votes and 41,168 in the entire district.
Judicial District 35 consists of Avery, Watauga, Mitchell, Yancey, and Madison counties.
Avery County voting results for national and statewide elections as well as the constitutional amendment referendum included:
*In the United States House of Representatives (Congress) District 11 race, incumbent Republican Chuck Edwards defeated Democrat Caleb Rudow 7,003 to 2,063 in Avery County.
Edwards also defeated Rudow 243,955 to 185,405 across District 11 to be reelected. Besides Avery, District 11 consists of the following counties: Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Swain, Transylvania, and Yancey.
*In the United States Presidential race, former President Donald Trump
beat Vice-President Kamala Harris in Avery County by a 7,087 to 2,201 vote tally.
Trump also won the state. He received 2,875,538 votes and Harris got 2,683,911 across its 100 counties.
270 Electoral Votes were needed to secure victory nationwide. Trump has received 277 and Harris had 224 as of press time.
The Electoral College is a system established by our founding fathers following the American Revolution in part, to help states with a smaller population still have a sense that their votes were equally valued compared to larger states with more people. As part of the United States Constitution, the government set up a system of electors to act as the representatives of the voters in each state. The electors cast the final vote for the country’s president. So, when you vote for president, you’re technically voting for an elector to cast an electoral vote for you.
Other framers felt that such a decision as important as a nation’s president shouldn’t be determined by a simple majority vote. They thought there should be a buffer between the people and the direct decision to the presidency.
There are 538 total electors in the Electoral College. Each state gets an elector for each representative they have in Congress — both senators plus every House member. The winner of a presidential election must get at least 270 electoral votes—a majority—to secure victory.
Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton (wife of former President Bill Clinton) to win the presidency in 2016 but lost his reelection bid in 2020 to current President Joe Biden.
This year Trump is projected to win the popular vote (most votes received) for the first time during his three candidacies.
*In the North Carolina Governor’s race, Mark Robinson beat Josh Stein in Avery County by a 6,045 to 2,694 vote tally.
But statewide, Stein won by a huge margin. He received 3,036,034 votes (54.82 percent) and Robinson got 2,224,955 (40.18 percent).
Stein was declared the winner not long after the election results across the state started being released.
Stein is currently North Carolina’s Attorney General and Robinson is currently its Lieutenant Governor.
*Avery County voters were in favor of the State Constitutional Amendment to provide that only a citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age or older and possesses the qualifications for voting shall be entitled to vote in any election in the state. 7,899 voted for the amendment, while 903 voted against.
The referendum passed statewide with 4,146,373 voting in favor and 1,197,562 against.
All county, regional, state, and federal General Election final results can be accessed online at: https://www.ncsbe.gov/election-results.
Complete results for all voting in Avery County may be found by logging online to this address:https://er.ncsbe.gov/?election_dt=11/05/2024&county_id=6&office=ALL&contest=0
Avery Elections staff members caution that all results are unofficial until they conduct a canvass of the election that ends on Friday, November 15. Local voting results will then be certified and become official. The State Board of Elections will certify final results for all other election contests on Tuesday, November 26, following its canvass.