City of Blue Ridge voters decided it is time for change and voted in a new mayor and five new council members during the Tuesday, November 2, General Election.
After nearly four hours of manually counting the hand written votes, it was announced that Post 2 Councilwoman Rhonda Haight will take the reigns from Mayor Donna Whitener in January.
Haight defeated Whitener by 38 votes, 234 to 196.
Coming with Haight will be Jack Taylor for Post 1 who defeated incumbent Harold Herndon by 82 votes, 250 to 168.
Angie Arp topped Post 3 incumbent Mike Panter for Post 2 by just 12 votes, 223 to 211.
Christy Kay pulled 39 more votes than Brian Higgins in the Post 3 race, 233 to 194.
Dr. William Whaley defeated both Jacqueline Kiker-Brown and Richard Arnold for Post 4. Whaley had 207 votes while Brown had 157 and Arnold received 63.
Incumbent Nathan Fitts was bested by Bill Bivins in the Post 5 race by 89 votes, 261 to 172.
In total, 440 city voters made their voices heard by casting votes in the election. Of that number, 221 votes were made during the advanced voting period, 30 by absentee and 189 on election day.
Election Superintendent Barbie Gerald told the room of some 40 individuals waiting for the results that two regular ballots were excluded as they had been “spoiled.”
While counting, there were a couple of hiccups. Two ballot counters had a vote ahead another counter for Taylor’s race, and after a silent recount by Gerald and Absentee Ballot Clerk Rebecca Harkins, it was determined the extra point was correct.
Another time, while reading out the votes, Harkins called Arp’s name over Panter, and after another brief look, it was determined that the vote was voiced incorrectly, and a tally went to Panter.
There was also brief banter over one voter, who’s name was not mentioned, that did not choose a single candidate to vote for in any of the six races.