RALEIGH, NC – A new analysis of 2025 municipal election results in North Carolina reveals that in three dozen elections one person’s vote – or decision not to vote – made the difference in who won or lost.

In West Jefferson (Ashe County), Brian Blanco won his seat on the board of aldermen by one vote, and in neighboring Jefferson, a tie was settled “by lot” (i.e., a method using chance) in accordance with state law. The chair of the Ashe County Board of Elections flipped a quarter into the air, Amy Ballou called heads – and lost her bid for a seat on the Jefferson town board to John Shepherd.

The analysis by the nonpartisan group Common Cause North Carolina found seven contests for mayor or town council that ended in a tie. In another 15 elections, the winner prevailed by just one vote. And in 14 other cases, a two-vote margin of victory would have vanished if one of the winner’s voters had chosen the losing candidate. That’s 36 contests with outcomes determined by just one voter.

“We’re a state that proves over and over again that every vote really does matter,” said Tyler Daye, Program Manager with Common Cause North Carolina. “The examples this year are mostly from small cities, but in 2020 and in 2024, we had statewide elections with millions of ballots that were ultimately decided by less than one voter for each village and town in North Carolina.”

“Whether you live in Wadesboro or Wilmington, Charlotte or Calypso, how you choose to vote – or not vote – can and does make a difference,” Daye said.

In Cabarrus County, elections board chair Jay White flipped an 1882 Morgan silver dollar to break a tie between William Meadows and Liz Poole for a seat on the Mt. Pleasant town council. Meadows called tails and lost to Poole.

In the small town of Whitakers straddling the Edgecombe/Nash county line, John Ford emerged the winner of a tie vote for a seat on the town board when his name was pulled from a cardboard box. In 2019, in another tie vote, Ford lost when his opponent’s name was drawn from a box.

In Kenly, a town split between Johnston and Wilson counties, a voter filed and then withdrew a dubious protest against Keith Davis’s one-vote victory over the white incumbent mayor. Davis was sworn in earlier this month as Kenly’s first elected Black mayor.

Protests of razor-thin victories of Black mayoral candidates in Morehead City (Carteret County) and Red Springs (Robeson County) will be heard at a State Board of Elections meeting on December 17.  In Morehead City, current council member Lee Stiles is leading the white mayor, Jerry Jones, by one vote. In Red Springs, two Black current council members are separated by two votes in their bid to be that town’s next mayor.

Elsewhere, new mayors in Kitty Hawk (Dare County) and Calypso (Duplin County) each won their elections by just three votes.

In Catawba County, tie votes for mayor and separately for a seat on the town council in Brookford were also resolved by coin toss. In those cases, the elections board chair used a President William Henry Harrison commemorative coin.

According to the analysis by Common Cause NC, five or fewer votes separated a winner and loser in a total of 72 local elections, including in the county seats of Anson (Wadesboro), Ashe (Jefferson), Caswell (Yanceyville), Graham (Robbinsville), Greene (Snow Hill), Hertford (Winton), Iredell (Statesville), Transylvania (Brevard) and Tyrrell counties (Columbia).  SEE LIST BELOW.

In tiny Harrellsville (pop. 106) in Hertford County, nobody filed as a candidate for mayor, so Lori Nuss won with 10 write-in votes. Nuss’s husband had been mayor, but he died in January 2025. Two seats on the five-member town council were also won by write-in votes. However, because of recordkeeping problems at the town’s precinct, the results in Harrellsville have not been certified.

“Local elections are where citizens can have the most direct impact on selecting the political representatives who in turn have the most direct impact on their lives,” Daye said. “The winners make decisions affecting neighborhood development, public health and safety, taxes and more. And they can use their position as a stepping stone to gain influence over many more people.”

Daye noted that in 2003, Thom Tillis tied for a seat on the Cornelius town council and went on to become a state legislator, then NC House Speaker and now a U.S. Senator.

Candidates are listed in order of their votes received.  In elections to fill multiple seats, a candidate is included on this list if they received 5 or fewer votes less than the votes of the last seat winner. For example, in the first election listed, Philip Cheap received 2 votes less than Dale Hunt, the winner of the third seat open on the Alamance Board of Aldermen.

Data from the State Board of Elections

Common Cause North Carolina is a nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.

Media contact: Bryan Warner, Common Cause North Carolina, bwarner@commoncause.org