The four Republican candidates for seats on the Dare County Board of Commissioners made it a clean sweep this morning.
The canvassing of the votes from the Nov. 4 general election by the county Board of Elections has reversed the results in a tightly contested race for Dare County Commissioner in District 3.
Following the official canvass, the Board of Elections announced Republican Beverly Boswell the winner over incumbent Democrat Max Dutton by just 25 votes. In the unofficial results on election night, Dutton led Boswell by 60 votes.
Results reported on election night are not official and only include votes from election day, one-stop early voting sites, and mail-in absentee ballots that were received in time to be counted on election day.
Dare County Elections Director Melva Garrison said this morning that several factors contributed to the reversal – provisional ballots that were cast on election day and later confirmed eligible, curbside votes, timely mail-in absentee ballots that were received on or after election day, and correcting a discrepancy in Wanchese precinct returns.
The official tally on Friday morning declared Boswell the winner with a total of 6,283 votes to Dutton’s 6,258. Boswell ended up with 50.1 percent of the vote to Dutton’s 49.9.
Dutton said in a telephone call early this afternoon that he intended to ask for a recount. The deadline for him to make the request in writing to the Board of Elections is Monday, Nov. 17, at 5 p.m.
None of the other local races was affected by the canvass.
Republican incumbent Jack Shea retained his seat on the Board of Commissioners on Nov. 4. Wally Overman also retained the District 1 seat to which he was appointed to fill the unexpired term of the late Richard Johnson. He prevailed over Democratic challenger Sandy Semans Ross.
And in what was the biggest local upset of the election, newcomer Republican Margarette Midgett Umphlett won over Democratic incumbent Virginia Tillet.
With this morning’s switch, the county Board of Commissioners now has five Republicans and two Democrats. Before the election, Democrats controlled the seven-member board by a margin of four to three.
The new Republicans join Commissioner Bob Woodard on the board to give the GOP the majority.
The only remaining Democrats are Warren Judge and Allen Burrus. Judge is currently the board’s chairman and Burrus is its vice-chairman, though that is likely to change when the new board is sworn in next month.
The swearing in ceremony for those candidates elected or re-elected to office will be held Monday, Dec. 1, at 9 a.m. in the Dare County Board of Commissioners meeting room located at 954 Marshall Collins Drive in Manteo.
This morning, Burrus, who represents Hatteras Island on the board, was philosophical about the Republican takeover.
“I work with people, not ‘R’s or ‘D’s,” he said.
For complete official Dare County election results, go to http://enr.ncsbe.gov/ElectionResults/?county_id=28.
