Grannis, Satterfield, Holder Win Council Seats

Now it's official---incumbents Michael Grannis and Bob Satterfield won reelection to the Clayton Town Council last week, but Incumbent Bob Ahlert lost his seat to newcomer Art Holder.

The Johnston County Board of Elections radified the totals Tuesday.

The three winners will serve four-year terms.

Grannis, who won his second term of office, was the leading vote getter with 505, followed by Satterfield, a longtime Councilman, with 444. Holder outpolled Ahlert, a longtime Councilman and sitting Mayor Pro Tem, 428 to 328.

Others getting votes were Russell Cotton with 217, Michael Carrothers with 186, Steve Agbayani with 183 and Brooks Remencus with 50.

For Holder, the win capped an unusual battle for a Council seat. He was the apparent winner of a seat in the 2007 town election, but those results 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.

The new election a year later came down to drawing a name out of a hat when Holder tied Councilman Alex Harding after all the votes had been counted--a chance drawing that Harding won. Holder, who tied Harding with 245 votes on election day and at 247 each once provisional ballots had been counted, was the odd man out.

Elections for Town Council are held on odd numbered years in the month of November. The Town's elections are nonpartisan and popular vote wins. Both the Mayor and Council members serve four year staggered terms.