A Clayton town council member says he will propose term limits for the council.

The Johnston County Board of Elections broke a tie in the Clayton Town Council election by asking a man selected at random to pull an envelope out of a box.

CLAYTON, N.C. — Clayton voters will elect two town council members Tuesday.

This comes more than a year after the State Board of Elections discarded the results of the November 2007 town council race because poll workers gave Clayton ballots to 18 people who live outside the town. The 18 votes could have made a difference for the second and third place candidates. 

Lawsuits about whether all or some of the candidates should be on the new ballot held up the new election. About six weeks ago, a judge ruled that all five candidates should be on the ballot.

The candidates are: Alexander Atchinson (incumbent), Alex Harding (incumbent), Art Holder, R.S. (Butch) Lawter, Jr., and Michael Starks.

Local officials expect a record low turnout.

“If there’s 500 people that show up I’ll be surprised,” said Leigh Anne Price, Director of the Johnston County Board of Elections.

About 9,500 people are eligible to vote in the election. Just 10 people voted early at the Board of Elections.

About 40 requested absentee ballots. The board received just one of those ballots back as of Friday, Price said.

“I just feel like since there’s nothing else on the ballot other than that, that people are just not going to come out for it like they would if there was more than one race on the ballot,” Price said.

In the November 2007 election, 1,188 people voted, she added.

Clayton residents can vote at their local precincts on Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

With 84 percent of precincts reporting unofficial results, Democrat Janet Cowell led Republican Bill Daughtridge in the race for treasurer, capturing 53 percent of the vote to nearly 47 percent for her opponent.

With Richard Moore leaving office in January after eight years and a failed bid to win the Democratic nomination for governor, the winner will have to quickly deal with the loss of at least $6 billion in the state’s public pension funds, hit hard by falling prices on the stock market.

Cowell, of Raleigh, earned a master’s degree from the Wharton School of Business. She is currently a business consultant and a state senator. Cowell said she would consult with investment professionals who manage large pension funds.

Daughtridge, who is from Rocky Mount, has been in the state House since 2002. He earned a master’s degree in business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Daughtridge focused his campaign on his intent to form a long-term infrastructure plan for the state.

The Cowell-Daughtridge race was one the lesser-known contests in the Council of State, which essentially serves as the governor’s cabinet.

A Democrat also led in the race to replace Jim Long as insurance commissioner. Long is stepping down after 24 years.

Wayne Goodwin had 51 percent of the vote, Republican John Odom had 44 percent and Libertarian Mark McMains just under 4 percent.

The winner will confront the issue of preserving the plan North Carolina created to insure coastal property.

Democrat Beth Wood has beaten incumbent Republican Leslie Merritt in the North Carolina state auditor’s race.

With 94 percent of the precincts reporting late Tuesday, Wood had nearly 54 percent of the vote, to 46 percent for Merritt. Wood is a certified public accountant and worked in the auditor’s office for 10 years.

The state auditor oversees how state government and nonprofit groups operate and spend public money.

Two-term incumbent Republican Cherie Berry was locked in a tight re-election bid for labor commissioner with Democrat Mary Fant Donnan, a program officer for the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem.

With 84 percent of precincts reporting, Berry held less than 51 percent of the vote, with Donnan at 49 percent.

The commissioner is responsible for protecting the health and safety of the state’s more than 4 million workers. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, a Republican and Guilford County farmer, had 52 percent of the vote in the race against Democrat James Ronald “Ronnie” Ansley.

Troxler has concentrated on food safety since becoming head cheerleader for the state’s $70 billion agribusiness industry in 2005. Ansley said he would focus on developing the state’s biofuels industry using woody plants instead of corn and soybeans. Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall had the largest lead in all the Council of State races in her re-election bid, holding nearly 57 percent of the vote in a race with Republican real estate lawyer and broker Jack Sawyer. The job includes enforcing ethics rules, overseeing legislative lobbyists, investigating securities fraud and cracking down on copyright infringement.

In the race for superintendent of public instruction, Democratic incumbent June Atkinson led Republican Richard Morgan, a former House co-speaker from Moore County. Atkinson had 53 percent of the vote, compared to nearly 47 percent for Morgan. Atkinson’s office has virtually no power or management duties, but Atkinson has seen her role as discussing ways to improve education.

CLAYTON, N.C. - Clayton voters will have to wait another month to choose their town council, after waiting nearly a year for the legal battle over last year’s election to be resolved.

RALEIGH, N.C. – In celebration of Gov. Mike Easley’s declaration of September as Voter Registration Month in North Carolina, the N.C. Council for Women will sponsor a voter registration drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday on the Bicentennial Mall.

A booth will be located between the N.C. Museum of History and N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh.

“The occasion provides a great reminder of the importance for everyone to register to vote,” said Council Board Chair Sylvia Ray. “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to exercise their right to vote.”

Ray and Council volunteers will encourage visitors to become registered voters. Voter registration is open to all United States citizens. The registration form asks for name, physical address, mailing address, date of birth, either North Carolina Driver’s License number or the last four digits of the Social Security number, and the voter’s signature. Completed forms may be submitted to local county election boards by individuals or by the Council.

The booth also will feature displays about the women’s suffrage movement and offer information regarding voter’s rights.  In the event of inclement weather, the event will be held instead from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday. 

The N.C. Council for Women/Domestic Violence Commission is a Division of the N.C. Department of Administration.