It took two tries, but it appears that Catherine “Kitty” Gill has defeated incumbent Ola Thorpe-Cooper to win the Ward 4 seat on the Henderson City Council.
Thorpe-Cooper trailed the challenger Gill after the Oct. 7 election, and a runoff was declared.
Gill got 132 votes – accounting for 61.11 percent – to 84 – 38.89 percent for Thorpe-Cooper.
The final tally was released by the Vance County Board of Elections just about one hour after the polls closed at 7:30 p.m.
A total of 262 Ward 4 voters cast ballots in the runoff, accounting for just under 12 percent of the 2,237 eligible voters. Unofficial counts by precinct showed that Central Henderson had the most voters turn out – 105 for Gill and 75 for Thorpe-Cooper. The Sandy Creek precinct had 7 votes for Gill and 4 for Thorpe-Cooper; South Henderson voters cast 20 votes for Gill and 5 for Thorpe-Cooper. Not a single voter in the Northern Vance precinct cast a vote.
In other municipal elections in the county, Kittrell Mayor Gene Pulley ran unopposed and earned another term. Pulley received 23 votes of 26 total votes cast; there were three write-in votes.
Kittrell Town Commissioners – all incumbents – were re-elected as well. Mary Jo Floyd got 22 votes, Susan Pulley got 23 votes and Robert B. Tunstall got 20 votes.
In Middleburg, incumbent Mayor Ray Bullock, running unopposed, got 18 votes out of 18 total votes cast. Incumbent Council members Hazel A. Baskett got 13 votes, Shirley H. Bullock got 18 and Mamie Turner got 14 votes.
The returns are unofficial until the Nov. 14 canvass, when the results will be finalized beginning at 11 a.m.
