Dist. 4 school board candidates could face runoff

While most local candidates have their sights set on November's general election, the three candidates running for the District 4 seat on the Lenoir County Board of Education might have to re-fight the primary race.

Official election results released Tuesday showed neither Virginia Cox Daugherty, Garland Nobles nor Henry Street picked up enough primary votes to move on to the general.

Elections Director Dana King explained that one of the three candidates had to win a 40 percent plurality, or 790 votes.

Daugherty beat out Nobles, the incumbent, for first place with 727 votes. Nobles picked up 667, and Street came in third with 582 votes.

King said Nobles has the option of calling for a runoff election; he has until noon Thursday to submit a written request to the Board of Elections.

Nobles could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Daugherty, who has been campaigning since early March, stated: "I really don't have a problem with (a runoff), if that's what the other candidates want to do."

Street, the current director of the P.R.I.D.E. of Rochelle Mentoring Program, said he was also in favor of a runoff.

"To me, I could do just as much in the community, doing what I'm doing with the mentoring program, but I felt like I could do a bit more on the board," he said.

David Anderson can be reached at (252) 559-1077, or danderson@freedomenc.com