A record breaking number of voters came out locally on Election Day which resulted in a high number of incumbents losing their seats to first time challengers.
The Holly Ridge polling location reached 600 voters on election day, breaking the previous record of 375 voters for a municipal election. Three new members of the Holly Ridge council now include Josh Patti, Aaron Ritter and Phil Misciagno. The incumbents, Rena Bragg, Pamala Hall and Dexter Sholar all lost their seats. With 9 candidates for the 3 seats it was hard to tell who was going to win until the announcement was made shortly after the polls closed. Ken Bradshaw, who ran for Holly Ridge Council and plans to run again in two years, was standing with the others when the results were announced. "Well, I'm sorry I didn't win this time but I sure did meet a lot of great people while running and I will certainly keep going to all the meetings and will stay involved." Chelsea Kurtz, a Holly Ridge candidate with the 4th highest votes, echoed Mr. Bradshaw and mentioned that she might be interested in becoming a member of the Holly Ridge planning board. Nick Tripp, also a candidate, currently is on the Holly Ridge Planning Board.
North Topsail Beach voters put new comer Laura Olszewski in office with incumbent Connie Pletl, and Tom Leonard won his seat for the unexpired term.
Teresa Batts maintained her position as Mayor of Surf City, which was an appointed position when former Mayor Doug Medlin resigned. Surf City also replaced two of its long term councilmen, Buddy Fowler and Don Helms, when Alicia Hawley and Trudy Solomon topped them in votes. John Koloski won his bid for election after being appointed to fill Teresa Batt's council seat when she became Mayor.
Pender County board of elections stated that almost 24% of all registered voters came out on election day, the highest number of people voting, as compared to surrounding counties and previous elections.
Topsail Beach members ran unopposed.
