Incumbents unseated in municipal elections
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

Boone Area Planning Commission member Liz Aycock defeated Town Council incumbent Dempsey Wilcox in Tuesday’s runoff election by 924 to 808 votes, with Aycock expanding the four-vote margin she’d maintained in the October race.

Aycock was surrounded by supporters and family members at the county courthouse when election results were announced.

Among those supporters was Lynne Mason, who won another term on the council by finishing second in October voting. The race appeared to be a solid but not decisive mandate from Boone voters in a race that had focused heavily on growth, property rights and land-use issues.

“I want to thank Dempsey Wilcox for 12 years of hard work on behalf of the town,” Aycock said. “I’m thrilled that the people of Boone have faith in me and I look forward to the job ahead.”

Aycock was the second challenger to unseat an incumbent in the Boone election. In the regular election October, newcomer Stephen Phillips took the highest number of votes, unseating incumbent Bunk Spann.

Aycock said she focused her runoff campaign on personal contact with voters, estimating she made 450 phone calls.

“People want controlled growth,” she said.

“I didn’t hear one negative comment about the sleep-slope ordinance. People want to keep Boone a beautiful place and preserve the environment.”

Aycock said her term as a member of the Boone Area Planning Commission played a role in her decision to run and also gave her an education on the growth issues facing Boone.

“That’s what made me decide to run,” she said. “I could listen and advise, but couldn’t change any policies. Now I can bring my ideas to the table.”

Phone calls to Wilcox were not returned as of press time.

During early, one-stop voting, 808 ballots were cast, with Aycock getting 437 of the votes. She received 53 percent of the overall vote. Voter turnout for the runoff was about 17 percent, higher than the total in the 2005 town elections.

Aycock will serve a two-year term and joins Mason and former Boone Area Planning Commission member Stephen Phillips on a town council that also includes Janet Pepin and Renni Brantz. The new council members will be sworn in during December’s regular meeting.

Other towns
Change was in the air in several other town races, though final make-up of local town councils likely won’t be known until next week’s canvass.

The lone incumbent on the ballot finished last in the Blowing Rock Board of Commissioners race, while the mayor was unopposed. In unofficial returns, Albert Yount and Phillip Pickett won four-year terms, followed by Patsy Fountain and Rita Wiseman.

Incumbent J.B. Lawrence received 317 mayoral votes.

Yount had served as vice chairman of the Blowing Rock Planning Board. He said Blowing Rock voters responded to his “promise of good governance” and said residents were concerned about the town’s water sources and said they wanted leaders who “are watching out after our money.” “That really sounds crass, but it really hit a nerve with some people I talked with,” he said.

All the new council members will take their seats during regular December meetings of each town council.
Races in Seven Devils and Beech Mountain could come down to the provisional ballots under review by the Board of Elections. As of press time, the elections board hadn’t determined the exact number of provisional ballots, but it appeared to be between 80 and 100 votes across all the races.

Beech Mountain voters went with newcomers Alan Holcombe and Richard Owen, with incumbents Randy Corn and Paul Piquet tying for the third and final seat in unofficial returns.

In Seven Devils, incumbents received a stamp of approval by finishing one-two-three with three seats open.

Kathy Copley led the way with 82 votes, while Richard DeMott received 67 and Bill Wilkinson got 49 votes.

However, the final seat is still up in the air as challenger David Ehmig received 48 votes and Vance Brian Duggan got 44 votes. Butch McLean finished with 31 votes.

In both Beech Mountain and Seven Devils, third-place finishers get two-year terms while the others get four-year terms. Mayors are elected from within the councils.

The official canvass will be held on Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the Board of Elections office in Boone. However, even those results may not determine the winners, as a trailing candidate within one percent of the leader has the right to request a hand count of ballots.

There were 69 provisional votes cast in Boone, not enough to change the outcome. Three provisional votes were cast in Beech Mountain, and those could play a role in determining who wins the third and final seat on the council. Two provisional ballots were cast in Blowing Rock, and none in Seven Devils.

Voter turnout in Seven Devils was 50 percent, while Beech Mountain’s turnout was 35 percent and Blowing Rock’s was 31 percent. All three townships contain voters outside Watauga County due to their proximity to the border.