Voter turnout is near 7 percent for uncontested election
By COBY LaRUEStaff
About seven percent of the town's active registered voters turned out Tuesday for an uncontested election in Sparta Tuesday.
John Miller was re-elected as mayor with 56 votes, versus six votes for sundry write-in candidates. John Brady and Mike Parlier were elected as councilmen with 57 and 56 votes respectively. Three write-in votes were recorded in that race.
Write-in votes for mayor included Amos Wagoner, Ellen Lohrr, Robert Overbay and two votes for R.G. James. The sixth write-in vote was for ‘Miller.' The three town council write-ins went to Ellen Lohr Ba (as recorded), Peggy Blevins and Royal Cummings.
There are a total of 903 active voters in the town, while about 1,300 are registered. A total of 66 voters turned out at the polls on Tuesday.
The election was held at the Sparta/Alleghany Fire Department this year using the county's new EasyVote 2000 equipment under the authority of the Alleghany County Board of Elections, which took over town elections this year on contract.
Royal T. Cummings of Sparta takes his turn at the polls Tuesday at the
Sparta/Alleghany Volunteer Fire Department as Lucille Craven looks up
his name on the voter register.