CPP: WNC voters pick city, town governments

Carolina Public Press published the preliminary results from the local elections held yesterday, Nov. 3. From the preliminary results seems like Sylva will be getting a new mayor. Lynda Sossamon, won 35.16 percent of the votes. The present mayor, Danny Allen, won 34.07 percent of the vote.

Here are the the rest of the early unofficial results for Jackson County:

Forest Hills Mayor, 1 out of 1 precincts reporting

*Kolleen Begley 25, 96.15%
Write-in 1, 3.85%

Forest Hills Council (2 seats), 1 out of 1 precincts reporting

*Ron Mau 23, 57.5%
Write-in 17, 42.5%
About this race: The Jackson County Board of Elections will determine the winner of the second seat, the top eligible write-in vote recipient (other than Ron Mau), when the results are canvassed next week.

Sylva Mayor (unexpired term), 2 out of 2 precincts reporting

Danny Allen 93, 34.07%
Barbara W. Hamilton 84, 30.77%
Lynda Sossamon 96, 35.16%
Write-in 0, 0%

Sylva Council (3 seats), 2 out of 2 precincts reporting

Jeremy Dale Edmonds 95, 14.44%
*Harold Hensley 161, 24.47%
Greg McPherson 111, 16.87%
*David Nestler 179, 27.2%
Charles Schmidt 110, 16.72%
Write-in 2, 0.30%
About this race: With the 3rd and 4th finishers separated by only one vote, the third council seat cannot be determined until after the Jackson County Board of Elections canvasses results next week. Given the close finish, an automatic recount could be triggered.

Webster Council (2 seats), 1 out of 1 precinct reporting

Billie Jo Bryson 13, 31.71%
Write-in 28, 68.29%
About this race: Because write-in candidates combined for more than twice as many votes as the only filed candidate, it’s possible that both seats will go to write-in candidates, or that Bryson will win one seat and a write-in candidate will win the other. This will be determined once the Jackson County Board of Elections canvasses these results next week.

Highlands Commissioner (3 seats), 1 out of 1 precinct reporting

About this race: Highlands ballots were available in 1 precinct in Jackson County, since the town limits include portions of both Jackson and Macon counties. However, no residents of Jackson County appear to have voted in this race, so the Macon results should be final. These results are listed under Macon County.

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