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Statesville runoff election the focus of early voting
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Published: October 30, 2009
It appears that the runoff election between incumbent Statesville City Councilman John Gregory and challenger Gene Houpe has gotten the lion's share of attention from Iredell's early voters.
Through early Thursday afternoon, 555 people had cast votes at the Iredell County Board of Election offices in Statesville in advance of next week's Election Day.
And 521 of those votes have been for either Gregory or Houpe.
Only 19 Troutman residents had voted early through Thursday and 15 from Mooresville have done so.
Early voters in the Gregory/Houpe contest so far are equal to about one-third of the total voters who participated in the Oct. 6 Statesville municipal election.
In that race, 3,024 votes were cast, but each voter was allowed to select two at-large candidates.
Councilman Cecil Stallard was the top vote-getter in the at-large race and was the only candidate to crest the 50-percent mark of total possible votes. Because of that, Stallard averted a possible runoff.
Gregory came in second in the race, but garnered only about 44 percent of the possible votes.
Third-place finisher Houpe (who picked up about 31 percent of the vote) immediately called for a run-off election.
Early votes in the run-off election have already exceeded the early votes cast in the entire Statesville election.
Only 504 people cast votes during the early voting period for the Oct. 6 elections. And those elections involved six different seats.
But it's difficult to explain why voters from Troutman and Mooresville have stayed away from the polls in droves this election.
The Troutman Board of Aldermen has two at-large seats being contested, in which incumbents Mike Spath and Scott Feimster are trying to hold off challenges from political newcomers Charles Delnero and Curt Rogers.
And in Mooresville, incumbent Mayor Bill Thunberg has a race against challenger Chris Montgomery. And incumbent At-Large Commissioner Frank Radar is in a race against challenger Rhett Dusenbury.
Two other other incumbents on the Mooresville Board of Commissioners are running unopposed.
Not a single early vote has been cast on the Harmony ballot, where the incumbent mayor and all four incumbent aldermen are running unopposed.
The town of Love Valley does not allow early voting.
But none of the voting numbers have been exceptional, and experts expect not much more than a 10 percent voter turnout.
Mary F. Tillinghast, who cast her vote in the Gregory/Houpe race just after noon on Thursday, said she felt things would be different if voters' rights were taken away.
"If you told people they couldn't vote, they'd be lined out there with signs protesting," she said. "I think we should take advantage of our freedoms while we have them."
Early voting ends at 1 p.m. Saturday.
All registered voters living within the municipal limits of Statesville, Troutman, Mooresville or Harmony may vote early.
Election Day is Tuesday. Polls will be open in precincts in all of Iredell County's municipalities (including Love Valley) from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.
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