LUMBERTON — Jacky Moody isn’t quite ready to light the victory cigar.
Moody, a lawyer with the Public Defender’s Office, holds a 138-vote lead out of more than 30,000 votes cast in his race against Vanessa Burton, an assistant district attorney, for a District Court judgeship after Tuesday’s general election. But Moody knows there are more votes to be counted — and even if he holds onto the lead when that has been done, it’s likely he would face a recount.
“My family and I want to sincerely thank the citizens of our great county for all their support of my campaign,” Moody said. “We are extremely grateful. I look forward to the final certification of the results and the opportunity to serve our wonderful citizens as a fair and impartial judge.”
According to unofficial results, Moody, a Republican, garnered 15,126 votes during early voting and Tuesday, compared with Burton’s 14,988 votes.
However, there are an unknown number of absentee ballots that have yet to be counted, and that will probably happen on Friday when the county Board of Elections meets. According to state law, any absentee ballots postmarked by midnight Tuesday that arrives in the mail before or on Friday are still eligible to be counted.
Additionally, there are provisional ballots that still could be counted. Elections officials didn’t have an exact number, but provisional ballots are provided at poll sites when there is a dispute about the voter’s eligibility. The voter is provided a provisional ballot that can be counted if it is later determined that person is eligible to vote.
The losing candidate can request a recount if the margin of victory when all the votes are counted and certified is less than 1 percent of all ballots cast. In this instance, the 138-vote margin is easily within that threshold.
The winner of the race will replace Herbert Richardson, who is retiring after sitting on the bench since the late 1970s.
There was much less suspense in the other two District Court races.
Angelica Chavis McIntyre, an assistant district attorney, defeated District Court Judge Dale Deese to capture his seat. McIntyre, a Democrat, received 19,893 votes to 9,240 for Deese, who ran as unaffiliated. Deese had been appointed in 2017 to finish the term of John Carter when he retired.
Brooke Locklear Clark, who was appointed to fill the term of Chief District Court Judge J. Stanley Carmical when he took on the role of Superior Court judge, was unopposed on Tuesday and will be sworn into a new-four year term.
The new judges will be sworn in and take their seats on the bench in January.
