Election results - Sanders wins by 12

Havelock Mayor Jimmy Sanders was narrowly re-elected Tuesday, with just more than eight percent of registered voters going to the polls in the city election.

In unofficial returns, Sanders led challenger Charles “Chuck” Barnard by just 12 votes. Totals will not become official until next week’s canvass.

Sanders totaled 305 votes to Barnard’s 293, while Matthew L. “Sugarbear” Jones garnered 81 votes and Samuel A. Colley Jr. 36 votes in the four-way race to become Havelock mayor.

“I guess I’m a little bit in shock today,” Sanders said after the numbers were announced at the Havelock Performing Arts Center. “It’s the closest election I’ve ever been in. I think Chuck ran a good campaign and he got his voters out.”

The race for two Havelock commissioner seats was not as close. Incumbent Jim Stuart and Will Lewis Jr. held off challenger Bernd G. Doss. Stuart totaled 524 votes, while Lewis had 512 and Doss brought in 235 votes.

“It was really quiet,” Stuart said of this year’s election. “There weren’t any smoking guns this time.

“Being chosen by the citizens of Havelock to represent them is a great honor, and I do not take the responsibility lightly.”

Lewis said he was pleased to have another opportunity to represent the people of Havelock.

“I’m glad to serve four more years,” he said.

Turnout for the election was light, with 723 votes being cast Tuesday out of a possible 8,559 registered voters for a percentage of 8.4 percent.

Candidates gathered at the Havelock Performing Arts Center after the polls closed at 7:30 p.m. to hear unofficial results, which for a time showed Sanders with only a five-vote lead over Barnard.

The lead stretched when early voting ballots were counted. Of those, Sanders had 18, Barnard 11, Jones 2, and Colley with 2.

Five uncounted write-in votes for mayor would not be enough for Barnard to overtake Sanders.

Unofficially, Sanders has enough of a margin to ultimately win the race. In the city, the race for mayor demands only a plurality, not a majority, so a runoff election is not required.

“It’s a dozen votes,” Sanders said. “I feel fairly confident. I’m thankful.”