More than 100 write-in votes allowed Wayne Aycock to retain his seat as mayor of Norlina.

During the filing period for Tuesday's Municipal Election, only one candidate — Tarleasha W. Seward — filed for the office of mayor. In recent weeks, Aycock formally began a write-in campaign.

Results from Tuesday night showed that Seward garnered 52 votes, but the race was not decided that night due to the large number of write-in votes.

The Warren County Board of Elections has been tabulating write-in votes today by reading individual ballots. Today's count revealed that Aycock received 123 votes.

The race for Norling Town Board also was determined by write-in votes. Five candidates filed for the five seats on the board: Dennis Carrington, Shavon Marie Russell Jones, Claude O'Hagan, Tyrone Simes, Sr. and Charles Smiley.

Simps received the most votes, with 156, followed by Smiley with 152. Carrington and O'Hagan garnered 96 votes each, and Jones received 59. However, there were more than 100 write-in votes which, once again, determined the election outcome.

Denny Burrows received 89 write-in votes to secure the final seat on the town board. Incumbent commissioner Roger Jackson did not file during the filing period, but received nine write-in votes. Another nine write-in votes were categorized as miscellaneous.

See the Nov. 10 edition of The Warren Record for the full article. Election results will become final with the canvass on Tuesday.