The Atlantic Beach Election Commission has certified Windy Price and Carolyn Cole as the winners of Tuesday night's election for town council.
With challenged votes now counted, Windy Price ended up with 64 votes and Carolyn Cole with 52.
Price is suing the election commission because her name was not on the ballot, even though she says she turned in the necessary paperwork on time. The commission also questioned her residency. Price ran as a write-in candidate.
Cole, formerly known as Atlantic Beach Town Manager Carolyn Montgomery, also ran as a write-in candidate. Folks have questioned her residency as well, as she was living in Florida until very recently.
Incumbent Councilwoman Charlene Taylor had the second highest number of votes at 39 on election night, but ended up losing her seat at Thursday's hearing. Her final vote count was 43.
Taylor was followed by another incumbent, Josephine Isom with 35 votes and Paul Curry with 5 votes.
For more on what happened watch NewsChannel 15's at 6 or log on to CarolinaLive.com.
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Earlier story on carolinalive.com -
(11:08am) Disputed votes discussed in Atlantic Beach
This morning the Atlantic Beach Election Commission is meeting to discuss provisional ballots following Tuesday's election.
As it stands right now, the top vote getter for the two open council seats is a write-in candidate who the town's election commission denied being put on the ballot weeks ago. Windy Price took home the most votes at 40. The commission denied Price official candidacy because of questions about her residency, and because they said she didn't file the necessary paperwork on time.
Price fired back with a lawsuit against the election commission and began campaigning as a write-in candidate.
Incumbent Councilwoman Charlene Taylor received the second highest number of votes with 39 ballots cast for her.
According to the town's election commission, Taylor and Price are the unofficial winners, but 39 challenged ballots, which arose from residency issues, hang in the balance.
Assuming those are thrown out, and the math doesn't change, there's still a question over Price and the original issues she faced. In fact, a source said Price's own vote was challenged Tuesday because of the lingering question of her residency, and the election commission could decide not to declare her one of the winners.
Another incumbent, Josephine Isom, came in third with 32 votes. Isom was elected in a special election in January to fill the remainder of a council seat vacated by Retha Pierce when Pierce became mayor.
Carolyn Cole -- formerly known as Atlantic Beach Town Manager Carolyn Montgomery -- also ran as a write-in candidate and garnered 28 votes. Folks have questioned her residency, as well, as she was living in Florida until very recently.
Paul Curry received five votes.
NewsChannel 15's Joel Allen is at today's meeting, for more on what happened watch NewsChannel 15's News at 6 or log on to CarolinaLive.com.
To leave a comment, scroll down and click on "post a comment."
