ELIZABETHTOWN — Voters in Bladen County liked their incumbents on Election Day.
Ricky Leinwand, Howell Clark and Dicky Glenn won a six-way race for three Elizabethtown Town Council seats on Tuesday. Mayor Sylvia Campbell ran unopposed and easily retained her position.
Incumbents and challengers split the outcomes of two contested mayoral races. In White Lake, Goldston Womble defeated Gray Marshburn and in Clarkton, Mayor Arthur Whedbee was unseated by challenger Tim Tart.
The vote totals are unofficial until verified by the canvass on Nov. 15.
In Elizabethtown, Leinwand led the council race with 603 votes, Clark had 536 and Glenn 514. Next were Jessica McKoy Wilson with 444, Mary A. McMillian with 440 and Debbie Heyward 397.
Campbell received 832 votes.
In White Lake, Womble captured 193 votes to 112 for Marshburn. There was one write-in.
In a four-way race for three commissioner seats, newcomer Dean Hilton led with 245 votes. Incumbents Tom Riel and Tim Clifton retained their seats with 235 and 220 votes, respectively. Jay Young had 92 votes and there were two write-ins.
In Clarkton, Tart finished with 73 votes. Jon Hall had 53 and Whedbee 27. Linda Croom, running uncontested for the one commissioner seat available, had 127 votes. Total write-ins was only 6.
In Tar Heel, three commissioners and the mayor’s seat were on the ballot. Only incumbent Sam Allen filed to run for commissioner, and he captured 13 votes. The write-ins combined had 17. Chris Williams, director of Bladen County’s election staff, said he hoped to be able to provide the other two winners sometime on Wednesday.
Incumbent Roy Dew had 13 votes for mayor, and there were no write-ins.
In Bladenboro, a seven-way race for three commissioner seats was led by Stephanie Thurman with 278 votes, incumbent Sarah Jane Benson with 213 and Mac Bowen with 198. Next were Gene Norton with 157, Claudette Lewis Guy 151, Patsi Callihan 126 and Joey Todd 73. Norton and Callihan were the other incumbents.
In Bladenboro’s two ballot measures for malt beverages and unfortified wines, the “for” votes won decisively 313-153 and 309-152, respectively.
In Dublin, incumbents David Kirby and David Hursey led the town commissioner race with 27 and 18 votes, respectively. Write-ins combined totaled only 7.
Mayor Darryl Dowless also ran uncontested, snagging 21 votes to five total for all write-ins.
In East Arcadia, where incumbents ran unopposed, Perry Blanks picked up 46 votes for mayor, and commissioners Horace Munn, Carlee Carter and Rhonda Blanks Hall received 39, 37 and 34 votes, respectively.