Voters approve beer and wine sales, side with incumbents

Cleveland County voters the sales of malt beverages and unfortified win in unincorporated parts of the county in the primary election Tuesday, according to unofficial results released by the Board of Elections.

Nearly 60% of voters cast ballots for measures to allow the sale of beer and wine in areas outside of established cities or towns.

For years, towns have decided independently whether or not to allow businesses to sell alcohol in their borders. Beer and unfortified wine sales were previously approved by voters in Boiling Springs, Casar, Fallston, Grover, Kings Mountain, Kingstown, Lawndale, Patterson Springs, Polkville, Shelby and Waco.

Soon, businesses operating outside of those areas have will those opportunities.

School board race is set

Incumbent candidate Danny Blanton was the top choice among the most contested local race in a crowded field of Republican candidates for Cleveland County Board of Education.

Only four candidates could advance from the primary election to the November midterm elections. Blanton earned 20% of votes cast in the primary. He will be joined in November by Aaron Bridges, Ronnie Grigg and Walter Scott Spurling, who were the other top candidates in the primary. Other candidates on the ballot were Glenda Womack, Dale Riviere and Annette Fain.

The four Republicans will be contested by Incumbent Democrats Phillip Glover, Dena Green and Coleman Hunt, as well as Meghan Hoppes.

Incumbents hold on in commissioner primary

Incumbents Doug Bridges and Deb Hardin came out on top in a close contest for two seats on the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners. Voters selected them over Shelby City Councilman David White and Malarie Thompson.

With no Democrats on the November ballot, the two will be the only candidates whose names appear on ballots in the fall.

Kings Mountain races

In Kings Mountain, David Allen took 95% of votes for an at-large seat on the Kings Mountain City Council which was uncontested.

Mike Butler and Tommy Hawkins won primaries against Patty Hall and Jim Larson to represent their wards on City Council.

Low turnout

As is usual of midterm election cycles, interest was relatively low for the primary races. Cleveland County Elections Director Clifton Philbeck said only about 4% of registered voters submitted votes by mail or voted early. All told, less than 15% of voters participated in the primary election.

"It has picked up today. We've had a steady stream of people," said Philbeck on Tuesday afternoon. "With these midterm primaries, we tend to have a low turnout."

Dustin George can be reached at 704-669-3337 or Dustin.George@ShelbyStar.com.

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: What you need to know about primary election results in Cleveland Co.