Harding Begins Second Term: Lawter Absent

Councilman Alex Harding was sworn in for a second term of office earlier this month, a re-election he won by having his name drawn out of a hat.

Butch Lawter, who won the election and the second expiring Council seat, missed the ceremonies due to a medical condition. He will be sworn in at a later date. Until then, incumbent Councilman Alex Atchison, who lost re-election, will continue to fill the seat.

After more than a year of waiting and a special election last month, the race for one of the two expiring Town Council seats still came down to drawing a name out of a hat--a chance drawing that Harding won. Art Holder, who tied Harding with 245 votes on election day and at 247 each once provisional ballots had been counted, is the odd man out.

Atchison trailed with 192, and Mike Starks had 12 once the provisional ballots were tallied.

The dramatic end to an election race that began more than a year ago came once the Board of Elections ran out of options in finding a winner. With Lawter declared a winner for one seat on the Council, the Commission was stuck with a tie for the other seat.

Once a tie was officially declared, the Board of Elections put Harding's name in one sealed envelope and Holder's name in another, and then a Board of Elections employee drew one of the envelopes at random. It was the envelope with Harding's name.

Though the process was unusual, it is one of the methods specificied by State law for breaking a tie. The decision presumably ends the election saga that has been contested in the courts and at the ballot box, and finally came down to pure chance.

The five candidates were vieing for the seats presently held by Harding and Atchison.

Last year's election results for Town Council were set aside when County election officials discovered that a number of voters who do not reside within the town were mistakenly given ballots and allowed to vote for Council candidates. Just a few votes separated the top three vote-getters in that election, too.

A new election was delayed until now by a court challenge that resulted when the State Board of Elections decided that only the top three vote-getters in the invalidated election would be put on the new ballot. That decision was struck down by the courts, but a series of appeals, which the Board lost, kept the matter tied up in court until last month's vote.

In the first election, Harding was the narrow leader, while Holder and Lawter were just a few votes from each other for the other spot.