Eisele, Huggins take council seats

Election officials were expecting a low turnout for Tuesday’s municipal elections and voters offered few surprises.

On a day when nearly 92 percent of the eligible registered voters stayed home, newcomer Bonita Eisele won a slot on the Statesville City Council and Councilman Flake Huggins reclaimed his seat for a third term.

For those who didn’t know or care, Tuesday was election day in Statesville.

But would-be ballot casters enjoyed the summer-like weather by strolling in the park or attending to some work around the house or perhaps even getting some late-season sun.

In short, most eligible voters did just about everything Tuesday but vote.

Only 712 people turned out on the cloudless day. But that was enough to earn the Ward 3 seat for Eisele and for Huggins to keep his Ward 6 seat.

Of that number 156 people voted in Ward 1 and Ward 4, where council members Paula Steele and Michael Johnson, respectively, ran unopposed.

Including early ballots, 785 votes were cast in the election. There are 9,096 registered voters in those four wards, meaning only about 8.5 percent of those who could have voted actually did.

In Ward 3, the 176 total votes represents about 11 percent of the registered voters there. Eisele garnered 96 of those votes, or roughly 55 percent.

In Ward 6, where Huggins took 52 percent of the vote, turnout was more than double that. A total of 463 votes were cast by about 23 percent of the ward’s registered voters.

One of those who did vote in Ward 3 was Doris Wilson, who said she never misses an election.

“That’s ridiculous,” Wilson said when told at 3 p.m. — eight and a half hours after the polls opened — that she was only the 28th voter of the day at the Statesville Civic Center, the Ward 6 polling place.

“I always taught my students the responsibility of voting,” said Wilson, who taught school for 34 years. “I told them to go home and tell their parents to vote. Too many people gave their lives for our right to vote and we need to honor that.”

In the parking lot of the Civic Center, Eisele and a friend tried to sway voters to the candidate’s cause.

With four hours to go, Eisele liked her chances. Including early voters, only 63 people had cast votes in Ward 6 at that point and she could count a healthy percentage of that number in her corner.

“Barring a late surge, I think I’ll be OK,” she said at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. “And I don’t think there is going to be a surge.”

She was right. There wasn’t.

Eisele’s decisive victory means Ward 3 will have a place at the city council dais for the first time in months. The seat has been empty since mid-June, when longtime Councilman A.E. “Pete” Peterson stepped down for health reasons.

“We’re excited and I’m elated,” Eisele said after the unofficial tally was announced.

She said she was going to start cramming for her new role.

“I want to get caught up as much as I can so I’m ready when I get sworn in,” she said.

Just when that will be is in question.

Statesville Mayor Costi Kutteh said it cannot be at today’s pre-agenda meeting because the 15-day advertising period for the position had not expired.

He said he also did not know if could happen at Monday’s regular meeting because the vote will not be official until Thursday, Oct. 18.

“This is new ground for us ,” Kutteh said. “We’re going to have to find out how we can do this.”

The worst case scenario for Eisele is that she would be sworn in at the Nov. 1 pre-agenda meeting.

Attempts to contact Huggins were unsuccessful.

Statesville election results (unofficial)

Ward 1
Paula M. Steele 69 votes; 100 percent

Ward 2
Michael Johnson — 82 votes; 94.2 percent
Write-in — 5 votes; 5.7 percent

Ward 3
Bonita Eisele — 96 votes; 54.6 percent
Doris A. Allison — 48 votes; 27.3 percent
Dave Jackson — 24 votes; 13.6 percent
Write-in — 8 votes; 4.6 percent

Ward 6
Flake Huggins — 243 votes; 52.5 percent
Juan “J.D.” Williams — 161 votes; 34.8 percent
Donnetta L. Watkins 59 votes; 12.7 percent

-By

Posted on 10/09/07 at 10:05 PM
Statesville •City Council • (0) Comments

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