Weaverville – The 2023 Buncombe County election season is officially over, as less than 17 percent of the voters went to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots. There were only two towns in the county, Weaverville and Woodfin, that had races. Weaverville for the town council. Woodfin for the town council and the Woodfin Water Board of Trustees, as the two entities are separate boards.
In Weaverville, there were four candidates running for three seats. John Chase, a current council member, was the number one vote-getter with 730 (28.75%) votes. He was followed by Dee Lawrence (704-27.73%) and Peter B. McGuire (610-24.03%), who edged out Jennifer Young (476-18.75%) for the three open seats on the council.
In the Woodfin Mayoral race, current vice Mayor Jim McAllister won with 638 {78.09%) over Jason Moore. In the WoodfinTown Council, where three seats were open, Johanna Young, wife of longtime Town Manager Jason Young, topped the list of winners with 670 votes, followed by Elisabeth (Betsy) Ervin and Ken Kahn, who bested Josh Blade for that final seat.
In the Woodfin Water Board races, some of the longtime trustees were unseated by newcomers. Gordon Maybury was the number one vote-getter with 386, followed by Lauren Edgerton and Larry Hopkins. The longtime chairwoman Sarah Gassaway and trustee Ivo Ballentine lost the attempt to retain their seats.
Early voting turned out less than a quarter of a percent per day in voters, with Democrats turning out in greater numbers than Republicans or unaffiliated combined. Also, the white voters turned out to vote in greater numbers by a large margin, as did women, who only slightly turned out in greater numbers than men, 54-43 percent.