Burlington voters have turned out three-term incumbent Ian Baltutis in favor of veteran councilman Jim Butler, who ran against the mayor’s liberal activism.
The outcome was a reversal of the first match-up between the two, from 2015, when Baltutis won his first term, defeating the same councilman.
Butler had almost 58% of the vote, 4,528, from the combination of Alamance and Guilford County tallies, vs. Baltutis’ 3,310 votes. (
The Guilford County share of the vote is fewer than 200 total votes, evenly divided between the two candidates; meanwhile about 7,683 Burlington voters on the Alamance County side of the line voted, with Butler winning by a significant margin.
Meanwhile, former mayor Ronnie Wall led all council candidates in getting a seat back on the city council, with 4,466 votes. Meanwhile, incumbent councilman Harold Owen, Burlington’s former city manager, appears to have survived in his re-election bid, placing a strong second with 4,262 (from the total of both counties).
Meanwhile, Baltutis’ allies Bob Byrd and Dejuana Warren Bigelow ran third and fourth for the two available city council seats, with 3,211 and 3,106 votes, respectively.
Turnout was considerably higher than typical off-year municipal elections. While individual city percentages were not yet known, overall municipal voting across the county was up 50 percent from the last municipal elections in 2019.
In Burlington, for instance, more than twice as many people voted in the 2021 mayor’s race (7,864) as voted in 2019 (3,590).
Graham: new mayor, two new councilmen
Council member Jennifer Talley appears to have outpolled fellow councilman Chip Turner, the city’s mayor pro tem, in a bid to succeed Jerry Peterman, the 16-year veteran mayor who did not seek re-election.
With all precincts reporting, preliminary election night returns show Talley with a 54%-45% margin, 825 to 678 votes over Turner.
Meanwhile, Talley allies Bobby Chin and Joey Parsons appear to have grabbed the two available city council seats with 683 and 661 votes, respectively. In the process, they defeated first-term council member Melody Wiggins, the city’s former director of parks and recreation, who ran third with 538 votes.
Talley and Wiggins have frequently sparred over a number of issues over the past two years since Talley was elected.
First-time candidate Edith J. Montoya received 397 votes, Daniel Alvis had 309, Jeanette E. Beaudry had 195, and Brooke Flood received 119.
One decision facing the new Graham city council will be choosing a replacement to fill Talley’s remaining two years for her city council seat.
Mebane gets two new council members
Mebane voters have returned 28-year veteran city councilman Tim Bradley for another four-year term, his eighth. Bradley led all candidates with 983 votes (from both Alamance and Orange counties).
Two new council members were also elected: first-time candidates Jonathan White and former Mebane city planner Montreena Hadley, with 945 and 850 votes, respectively.
Incumbents Jill Auditori and Everette Greene did not seek re-election.
Trailing were first-time candidates Katie Burkholder and Charles Lopez who were closely clustered together; Burkholder had 720 votes, Lopez had 700.
Former planning committee member Roger Parker received 379 votes.
Elon: new mayor and two new aldermen
In Elon, the only suspense was the margin that board of aldermen member Emily Sharpe would have in facing Michael Woods. Sharpe won by a 6-1 margin, 623 votes to 104 for Woods.
Two first-time candidates for the board of aldermen filed for the only two available seats. Elected were Stephanie Bourland and Randy Orwig, with 623 and 522 votes, respectively.
The two aldermen seats were available by virtue of Sharpe’s decision to run for mayor rather than for re-election, and the decision of alderman Davis Montgomery not to seek re-election. Long-time mayor Jerry Tolley also did not tseek re-election.
Gibsonville will have new members since no incumbents ran
First-time candidate Bryant Crisp appears to have won a seat on the town’s board of aldermen, running strong in Guilford County precincts and totaling 340 votes from both Alamance and Guilford counties.
Preliminary election night vote totals indicate that the second available seat is very close between Paul Thompson with 293 votes and Irene Fanelli with 291. Running fourth is former alderman Paul Dean with 262 votes.
Incumbents Ken Pleasants and Shannon O’Toole opted not to seek re-election.
Village of Alamance
Voters in the Village of Alamance have re-elected mayor Don Tichy, who was unopposed. They have also elected a three-candidate slate largely aligned with Tichy: Dale Hunt, Philip C. Cheap, and Gayle Andrews.
With all votes in, from both early voting and Election Day, Hunt led all aldermen candidates with 198 votes; Cheap and Andrews were close behind with 187 and 186 votes, respectively.
Alderman Naydine Sharpe fell far short in her bid for re-election with 75 votes.
Also losing was Elizabeth Powell, who has been critical of Tichy and the current board for what she had considered to be inadequate attention to speeding through the center of the village where she owns several rental houses. She drew 57 votes.
Another candidate, Lacey Steger, received 38 votes.
Powell’s summer campaign of putting up anti-speeding signs that some considered in poor taste fell short in converting any dissatisfaction into a seat on the board.
Green Level town council will also have new council members
In Green Level, which had no incumbent candidates for town council, there will be two new council members. Neither Michael Trollinger nor Carissa A. Graves-Henry, who serves as mayor, filed for re-election.
Leading in the balloting Tuesday were Patricia (Patty) Jones with 136 votes and Stephanie Long Enoch with 100.
Ida Kleiner had 74 votes; Doris S. Richmond received 26; and Erwin Taylor received 19.
A total of 103 votes were cast for write-in candidates, but the distribution was not yet known.
Haw River town council
Long-time town councilman Lee Lovette has been re-elected, leading the town council race with 89 votes. First-time candidate Shawn Riggan was close behind with 80.
Riggan will fill the seat which has been vacant since current mayor Kelly Allen’s elevation to the mayor’s chair in 2019. Councilmen deadlocked 2-2 on a replacement for Allen, deciding to leave the post vacant until the 2021 election.
Further back were Kristin Smith with 22 votes and Cathy Bellamy Dickens who had 8.
Ossipee town council
Incumbent town councilman Richard A. Overman led the voting in Ossipee with 47 votes; Jim McAdams received 42. Both were apparently elected.
Unsuccessful candidates Sandra Boles Gregory and Anderson Braxton received 28 and 22, respectively. There were also two write-in votes.
Swepsonville: no challengers; incumbents returned
The town of Swepsonville had three incumbents seeking re-election, with no challengers having filed.
John Andrews received 74 votes; Henry Carrouth, who serves as mayor, received 71; and Wilbur Suggs got 67. There were also 4 write-in votes.
