Cedar Bluff: long-running election contest over, council members to be seated
The Post reports: It took over 16 months to seat them, but the Cedar Bluff Town Council finally has three new members, as of last week. Candidates Evan Smith, Jack Bond, and Mark Hicks will join Lenora McWhorter, also recently elected, and Leatha Harp on the five-member Council.
Evan Smith defeated incumbent Billie Jean Burkhalter by 11 votes for the District 1 seat. In District 3, longtime town official Martha Baker -- who has served as mayor and on the Town Council in the past -- was defeated in her bid to return to the Council. In District 4, sheriff's deputy Mark Hicks defeated Tammy Crane, 55-45.
Election results are scheduled to be verified Dec. 15 at 11:45 a.m. at the Town Hall.
The town's municipal election was originally held on Aug. 28, 2008. But mayoral candidate Jimmy Wallace -- who finished third in the initial voting -- challenged the results, claiming over 30 absentee ballots were improperly handled by town officials or marked by someone other than the voter for whom the ballot was originally intended. -- Read the whole story --> The Post Online - Cedar Bluff election results (finally) in