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Brunswick County election recount keeps Rich Alt in the lead for mayor of Southport

WHQR | By Nikolai Mather

Published November 28, 2023 at 2:16 PM EST

Edward Lewis, an older Black man with glasses, is seated at a desk. He's flanked by two other board members (Stuart Smith, an elderly white man on his left, and Paula Clarity, an older white woman to his right.) Before the three of them sits a large, Uncle Sam-style top hat, covered with red, white and blue stripes and stars. Lewis, who has just drawn a name out of that hat, is handing the slip of paper to elections director Sara Lavere, who is just out of frame. — Chairman Edward Lewis broke the tie for Ocean Isle Beach Commissioner by drawing a name out of a hat.

The Board of Elections conducted a machine recount for the Southport mayoral race and ran tiebreakers for two other elections — which involved picking names out of an oversized patriotic hat.

After four hours of recounting, the race for mayor of Southport has a winner — for now.

During a special meeting on Tuesday, the Brunswick County Board of Elections conducted a machine recount of all ballots for Southport's mayor. The total? 839 for current mayor Joe Pat Hatem, 841 for alderman Rich Alt.

The recount follows a series of neck-and-neck ballot tallies for Alt and Hatem. On Nov. 7, the tally put Hatem in the lead by a margin of three votes. Then, on Nov. 17, a canvass of provisional and mail-in ballots put Alt in the lead by just one vote.

Tuesday's results featured a twist. The board decided to include a previously disqualified provisional ballot in their recount. Sara Lavere, who is the Brunswick County director of elections, said that the board had made an error in registering one Southport voter. After some deliberation, the board decided to accept the ballot as legitimate. That ballot was cast for Alt.

Rich Alt, an older white man with white hair in a tan sport coat, talks to a group of reporters inside the Board of Elections building. One reporter is filming him while holding a mic up to his face, the other is using his phone to record a video. — Incoming mayor Rich Alt talks to reporters at the Brunswick County Board of Elections office.

Southport's mayoral election has been a significant race in Brunswick County. Alt chose to run against Hatem in the middle of his term as alderman. He also campaigned heavily using his Facebook page, where he expressed controversial opinions about the Southport town government.

"This has been a long campaign. It's been a grueling campaign," Alt said after the recount. "So I'm glad the election is over."

Alt was present for the meeting all day. Hatem, who will serve as mayor of Southport until Dec. 14, did not make an appearance.

The recount started at 10 a.m. and concluded at 2 p.m. Lavere oversaw a bipartisan team, who used recount machines to take stock of 4,217 Brunswick County ballots. In addition to the votes for Alt and Hatem, the team tallied 93 for Mike Barbee and 1 write-in candidate.

"I think everything came out as I expected. I think our team did good," Lavere said.

The candidates can still request a recount by hand. Hatem has not yet returned WHQR's request for comment, or questions about whether he will request a recount.

Brunswick County also ran tiebreakers for two other races. In Bald Head Island, Ginnie White and Jerry Maggio tied for a council seat. David Green and Stephen S. Turner tied for Ocean Isle Beach Commissioner.

Lavere said typically, the tiebreaker is decided by lot. On Tuesday, that meant chairman Edward Lewis drew the winners' names out of very large Uncle-Sam style hat. White won Bald Head Island and Green won Ocean Isle Beach.