Following Tuesday’s general election, the Goldsboro Mayoral race has technically not been decided.
The unofficial results had Charles Gaylor receiving 49.98 percent of the vote while Raymond Smith Jr. received 49.76 percent of the vote. Unofficially, Gaylor won by nine votes.
The results could potentially take weeks to become official while write-in ballots, international absentee ballots and provisional ballots cast under the new VoterID law are reviewed.
Should a recount be necessary, it would take place toward the end of November.
Gaylor released the following statement through his social media pages on Wednesday saying, “Hey! Thank you so much for your support. We are excited to be 9 votes up at the end of Election Day. Please know, however, that this number will change some as the rest of the ballots are counted. There are still write-in ballots to review, international ballots to count, and even provisional ballots cast under the new VoterID law to sort through. Being this close, we won’t know the final results of this for a few weeks. Any recount would then take place toward the end of November. However, we will do our best to keep the community informed on our social media pages as updates come available. Again, thank you so very much for your support and well wishes!”
When reached for comment by Goldsborodailynews.com on Wednesday regarding the election results, Smith responded by saying, “I think it is confusing and a bit misleading to the citizens of Goldsboro that the local headlines are proclaiming that there is a clear winner in the Mayoral race. The final results are not in as of yet. Write-ins, provisional and supplemental absentee ballots must be counted before a clear winner can officially be announced. Also, the option for a local recount is a consideration as well. What gives me optimism is that there is a verification process that insures that we have free and fair elections. Let’s allow the process to culminate before drawing premature conclusions.”
Attempts to reach Wayne County Board of Elections President Eddie Edwards on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
