Burr, Furr now look ahead to runoff

By Jay Almond, News Editor

Thursday, May 15, 2008 May 16, 2008 07:49 am

— N.C. Rep. Kenny Furr (R-Albemarle) and former Stanly County Republican Party Chairman Justin Burr will face off June 24 in a runoff election to decide who will represent N.C. House District 67.
Voters will narrow the field to one when the runoff election, or second primary, determines whether Furr, 65, or Burr, 22, will take the state office for District 67, which includes Stanly, western Montgomery and northern Union counties.
Furr was forthcoming with his belief that only a runoff would truly identify voters’ wishes, but chose not to file for a runoff election unless state officials called for one statewide — and they did.
Stanly County taxpayers should not foot an increased bill if the state did not believe a runoff was necessary, he said.
Once state officials announced a state race was sufficiently tight with no clear winner, a runoff was called for, allowing Furr to avoid placing the burden on local residents.
“I have filed for a second primary,” Furr said Wednesday.
“The Commissioner of Labor filed Tuesday so there won’t be any additional cost to the taxpayers.
“The will of the people has not yet been decided. Sixty-three percent of voters did not vote for my opponent so now we’re on to the campaign.”
The results of the May 6 primary cast three Republican candidates within a relatively narrow margin of each other, none emerging with the necessary 40 percent of the vote to concrete the outcome.
The Stanly County Election Board’s Tuesday canvass of votes, which reflects audited ballot counts and provisional vote totals, showed slight increases for each candidate, but did not significantly alter vote percentages.
Including ballots cast by District 67 voters from Montgomery and Union counties, former Stanly County Commission Chairman and District 67 incumbent representative Furr charted about 33 percent of the vote.
Stanly County Commissioner and local physician Nalin Mehta notched roughly 30 percent.
Burr recorded approximately 37 percent.
After tallying about four percent more of the 6,225 votes cast in the May primary, Burr said he’d rather avoid a runoff against Furr but will be ready.
“I wish we didn’t have to do this,” he said.
“Now the Republicans are going to take time out of their day to come out and vote ... We won the first one. I feel comfortable with where we are.”
Stanly County Board of Elections Director Kim Wilson reported 40 of 143 provisional votes cast were either not registered or registered outside Stanly County.
No other local races were close enough to warrant a runoff following the May primary’s unofficial results.
Additionally, none were pulled within range as a result of the local canvass, however, some counties have not completed their canvass, meaning the possibility still exists that other races could be included on the June ballots.
Convincing voters to return to the polls for a runoff has historically been tough and there’s a good chance the runoff will have a lower turnout than the May primary, Wilson said.
For the N.C. House 67 contest, only Republican voters, whether they voted in the last primary or not, and registered unaffiliated voters who voted in the Republican primary will be eligible to vote in June.

Jay Almond can be contacted by email at snaponline21@carolina.rr.com.