Election 2023: Southport to see new mayor; two other races decided by random draw

Jamey Cross, Wilmington StarNews
·2 min read

By a margin of just two votes, the city of Southport will see a new mayor.

The results of several tight races in Brunswick County were finalized Tuesday when the Brunswick County Board of Elections met in a special meeting to recount votes and confirm the results of three highly anticipated 2023 municipal contests.

Previous coverage: Southport race comes down to one vote, others could be decided by coin toss

According to the Brunswick County Board of Elections, there are 129,070 total registered voters in Brunswick County. Just over 18.5% of ballots were cast in 2023 municipal elections on Nov. 7 – 15,295 out of 81,618 total ballots.

Here are the final results.

New mayor in Southport

Southport Alderman Rich Alt challenged the city's longtime mayor Joe Pat Hatem in this year's mayoral contest. On election night, unofficial results showed Hatem leading Alt by a tight margin of three votes, with 22 provisional ballots left to be considered for eligibility.

Southport alderman Rich Alt ran against incumbent Joe Pat Hatem for the city's mayoral seat.
Southport alderman Rich Alt ran against incumbent Joe Pat Hatem for the city's mayoral seat.

However, the results of the contest were overturned following the Nov. 17 canvass, which finalized the results and found Alt victorious over Hatem by a margin of one vote – 840 to 839. During Tuesday's recount, the results of the canvass stood, and after one final provisional vote was added to the count, Alt beat Hatem by a margin of two votes — 841 to 839.

Southport Mayor Joe Pat Hatem ran for reelection in 2023.
Southport Mayor Joe Pat Hatem ran for reelection in 2023.

The Brunswick County Board of Elections supervised while bipartisan teams conducted the recount, feeding each ballot through a tabulator on Tuesday.

Ties decided by random pick

The results of the Nov. 7 election – made official by the Nov. 17 canvass – found ties in two Brunswick County races: the Ocean Isle Beach Board of Commissioners and Bald Head Island council contests.

In Ocean Isle Beach, six candidates were vying for three open seats on the board. Incumbent David Green and newcomer Stephen Turner tied for the third seat with 216 votes each, official results showed.

In Bald Head Island, incumbents Jerry Maggio and Virginia White tied with 102 votes each for the second open seat on the council.

In accordance with state law, the winners of two tied races were chosen by lot at the Brunswick County Board of Elections’ Nov. 28 meeting. Brunswick County Director of Elections Sara Lavere described “by lot” to essentially mean a game of chance where the winner could be determined by drawing a name at random or flipping a coin.

During Tuesday’s recount meeting, the names of the tied winners in each race were placed into a hat and a winner was pulled.

David Green was declared the winner of the Ocean Isle Beach race, and Virginia White was declared the winner of the Bald Head Island contest.

STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with the area’s latest Brunswick County news by signing up for the Brunswick Today newsletter and following us on Facebook and Instagram.

Jamey Cross covers Brunswick County for the StarNews. Reach her at jbcross@gannett.com or message her on Twitter/X @jameybcross.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Southport mayor unseated by two votes, recount confirms