Pender elections: Board of education members advance for commissioner seats

Madison Lipe, Wilmington StarNews
Updated ·3 min read
Pender County primary results are in, with only one incumbent out of the four that ran advancing to the general election. Two of the candidates that advanced to the general election for commissioner seats are current Pender County Board of Education members.
Pender County primary results are in, with only one incumbent out of the four that ran advancing to the general election. Two of the candidates that advanced to the general election for commissioner seats are current Pender County Board of Education members.

After long-awaited results in Pender County, all but one incumbent was voted out for the general election.

Final results weren't posted until after 1 a.m. Wednesday due to mechanical issues earlier in the day.

According to officials, check-in computers were not set up properly and poll workers had to use manual voter check-in at some of the Pender County polling locations.

All voters were able to cast ballots successfully, according to Patrick Gannon with the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Gannon said officials took extra steps to verify the results in order to upload them to the state.

More than 10,500 ballots were cast in Pender County, which brought the voter turnout rate to 21.3% in the primary, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

All results are unofficial until the canvass at 11 a.m. on Friday March 15.

Pender County Board of Commissioners District 1: North Hampstead, Topsail, Surf City

Republican and current Chairman of the Pender County Board of Commissioners Brad George was the only incumbent to advance to the general election in the primary.

George received 61.38% of the votes compared to his opponent, Republican Joe Cina, who received 38.62%.

George will go on to face Democrat Jim Harris in the November general election.

Pender County Board of Commissioners District 4: Atkinson, Currie, Penderlea, Watha, Willard

Current Pender County Board of Education member and Republican Ken Smith will advance to the general election.

Smith beat out incumbent and Vice Chairwoman Jackie Newton, who received about 26.11% of the votes, as well as Max Southworth-Beckwith, who received about 27.36% of the votes. Smith received about 46.53% of the votes.

Smith will be on the ballot for the November general election against Democrat Demetrice Keith.

Pender County Board of Commissioners District 5: Burgaw, St. Helena, Maple Hill

Republican Board of Education member Brent Springer beat out long-time incumbent Fred McCoy.

Springer received 60.55% of the votes with McCoy receiving 39.45%.

Springer will not face a competitor in the November general election.

The three winners of the commissioner seats in November will join Wendy Fletcher-Hardee from district two and Jerry Groves from district three. All seats on the Pender County Board of Commissioners are currently Republicans.

Pender County Board of Education District 5

The only Pender County Board of Education seat up for grabs has Republican Tommy Reeves advancing to the November general election.

Reeves received 68.03% of the votes, beating out incumbent Phil Cordeiro, who received 31.97% of the votes.

Reeves will not face an opponent in the November general election.

Running in the general election without a primary

Current Pender County Board of Education Chairman Don Hall, who represents district three, will be running in the general election. Nobody filed to run against him, so therefore he did not have to run in the primary.

Pender County election results: See the numbers here.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Two Pender County Board of Education members up for commissioner seats