No One Files For Candidacy In Town's Mayor, Council Races

SPENCER MOUNTAIN, N.C.,None — The deadline to file for elections in North Carolina was noon Friday, but in one Gaston County town, no one has applied to run for mayor or Town Council.

Spencer Mountain is a quiet town of just 37 people. Eyewitness News was at the Board of Elections on the last day of filing, and not one of those town residents signed up to run for mayor or the three Town Council positions.

The same thing happened two years ago. The council candidates and mayor wrote their names in and were unopposed write-in candidates. The top vote getter received six votes.

The town has to have elected representatives to be incorporated.

The director of the Board of Elections said there's a trend.

"It's generally a rotating group that serves in their offices," said Director Adam Ragan.

Records show that in the past two elections, only eight people in Spencer Mountain have voted, and they all came from four homes.

In order to find a name on a ballot for an office in Spencer Mountain, you have to go back to 2007. Then, there was just one name on the ballot: Janice Abernathy for mayor. The next term, she won as a write-in candidate with five votes.

If there are not enough write-in candidates, then the council will have to decide who fills the vacancies.