news-record.com

WHITSETT (MCT) — A coin toss, or other tie-breaker, could decide a Whitsett Town Council race if a canvass next week does not change the vote total.

Incumbent Ken Jacobs, a 61-year-old cabinetmaker, one of three candidates for two open seats, finished with 42 votes on Election Day as did newcomer Lee "Monk" Greeson, a 46-year-old truck driver who has served on the town planning board.

"If the canvass turns up the same number, the race could be decided by a drawing of lots. That has not happened in many years," Guilford County Board of Elections Director Director George Gilbert said Wednesday.

Following the canvass on Tuesday, elections officials will certify the 2009 election results.

Incumbent Cindy Wheeler, 47, an executive assistant at Replacements Ltd., easily won the other open seat with 60 votes of 145 cast. The one write-in ballot cast in the race could have been the winner for Jacobs or Greeson.

"I'm not thinking of a challenge," Jacobs said Wednesday. "If that's the vote. That's the vote. We'll have a coin toss or something to decide it."

At the canvass, candidates and election board members can challenge provisional and absentee ballots. Many voters whose addresses can't be verified at the polls are given provisional ballots.

"We don't think there are any provisionals to look at in this race," Gilbert said.

The Whitsett race may be the only required recount, Gilbert said.