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Voters head to polls today
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Published: November 3, 2009
There is just no explaining voters.
During the early voting period before last month's Statesville election, 504 people cast votes for the 14 candidates vying for six different seats on the city council, including that of mayor.
In the two-and-a-half week early voting period held in advance of today's municipal elections, a total of 685 people voted.
Registered voters in Statesville, Mooresville, Troutman and Harmony were all eligible to vote.
But of the 740 total ballots cast, 685 (nearly 93 percent) were for one of the two candidates — incumbent John Gregory and challenger Gene Houpe — vying for a Statesville City Council at-large seat in a run-off election.
Only 31 people voted early in the Mooresville elections, which include two important seats being contended for: the mayor's race, featuring incumbent Bill Thunberg and challenger Chris Montgomery; and incumbent At-Large Commissioner Frank Radar against challenger Rhett Dusenbury.
(Two others incumbent Mooresville commissioners are running unopposed.)
And in Troutman, two of the town's five aldermen will be defending their seats against political new comers.
Incumbents Mike Spath and Scott Feimster will try to hold off Charles Delnero, a retired airline worker from New Jersey; and Curt Rogers, a high school teacher who recently retired from the Marine Corps, where he served as an officer and a fighter pilot.
Not a single resident of Harmony voted early. However, that town's ballot includes only the Board of Aldermen's five incumbent members who are all running unopposed.
Love Valley did not allow for early voting, but the town's sole voting precinct will be open today.
Ten candidates are on the ballot, nine of whom will be vying for five at-large Board of Commissioners seats that are up for grabs.
Longtime mayor and town founder, Andy Barker Jr. is running unopposed to keep his seat.
But the race in Statesville seems to be all the buzz.
In the Oct. 6 election, Gregory came in second to fellow incumbent Cecil Stallard.
But unlike Stallard, Gregory failed to get the support of more than 50 percent of those who participated in the election.
Gregory beat third-place finisher Houpe by 205 votes (667-462) but Houpe was entitled to call for a run-off election and did so soon after the votes were counted on election night.
At 73, Gregory is one of the council's oldest members. He was first appointed to the council in 1984 and subsequently won two elections.
He then left the board after serving a total of nine years and stayed out of politics until 2005 when he won his at-large seat.
Gregory recently retired from his position as a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker United.
Houpe, 41, is a former Statesville police officer who now runs a carpet-cleaning business.
If elected, he would be the youngest member of the Statesville City Council.
The 685 people who voted early represent 4.4 percent of Statesville's registered voters.
In last month's election in Statesville, a total of 1,680 people cast ballots, about 10.8 percent of the city's electorate.
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