Recount keeps Jones in mayor seat

PINE KNOLL SHORES — A winner has been declared in the Pine Knoll Shores mayoral race.

A recount held Monday by the Carteret County Board of Elections confirmed the initial election results in which Ken Jones edged out Ted Lindblad by a four-vote margin. Jones also garnered the one write-in vote cast in the race, with the final total being 305 to 300.

With the totals from the initial tally and Monday’s recount remaining the same, there is no need for a second recount, elections officials said.

Lindblad, who requested the recount, offered a handshake and words of congratulations for Jones.

He said he didn’t expect the totals to change but because the vote margin was so small, he felt he owed it to the many people who voted for him to be sure it was correct.

While the numbers didn’t fall in his favor, Lindblad said it’s a reminder of the importance of voting.

“It shows the ultimate importance of going out and casting a ballot because every vote counts,” he said.

For Jones, it’s the second close election he’s faced for the mayor’s seat. He ran in 2007 and lost by 13 votes to outgoing Mayor Joan Lamson, who chose not to seek re-election this year.

With this year’s win, Jones will change duties next month as he relinquishes his seat on the town’s planning board and is sworn into office as mayor.

“I’m happy (the election) is over; it takes a lot of pressure off of both of us,” Jones said. “The important thing now is Pine Knoll Shores can come together as one and move ahead with taking care of the things that need to be done.”

Lindblad, who chose to run for mayor rather than seek re-election to his commissioner seat, will close out his four-year term at the December meeting of the town board. In addition to time as a town commissioner, he has served on the planning board and been a volunteer on the town’s EMS squad.

“It will be nice to have a little time to myself,” he said.

The recount took about an hour to complete, with the more than 600 ballots cast in the Pine Knoll Shores election fed by hand into the machine counters. The Board of Elections also performed the count on different machines than were used in Pine Knoll Shores on Election Day.

Board of Elections Chairman Bill Henderson said the Board of Elections continues to see success in the accuracy of the optical scan voting equipment it has used since May 2006, and the recount is the latest example of that.

He said they’ve also seen success in the random precinct sampling required by the state each election. During the sampling, they are required to do a hand-eye count to compare to the machine count.

Contact Jannette Pippin at 910-382-2557 or jpippin@freedomenc.com.