ROCKINGHAM — A recount has been requested in the race for the Richmond County Board of Commissioners.
Elections Director Connie Kelly sent out a notice late Tuesday afternoon announcing that Susan Bruce made the request.
There were only 55 votes between Bruce and Dewey Brower in the Democratic primary last week.
A candidate can request a recount if there is less than a 1% difference in the vote. In this case, the margin was 0.59 percent, not including the provisional ballots.
The machine recount will be held at 8:30 a.m. Friday, March 13 at the Board of Elections Office, 221 S. Hancock St., Rockingham.
Kelly said this was the first local recount since 2016 when Commissioner Kenneth Robinette narrowly defeated challenger Tavares Bostic.
Bostic has since been elected to the board.
Brower and Bruce were two of five candidates to run in the Democratic primary in the commissioners race. The other three were Commissioner Jimmy Capps and challengers Michael Legrand and Kevin Clark.
Legrand secured the most votes, followed by Capps and Brower, to move on to the November election where they will face off against Republicans Lee Berry, Jeff Smart and Andy Grooms.
There are three seats up for grabs in the general election — that currently held by Capps and those held by Robinette and John Garner, the latter two of whom did not file for re-election after serving more than 20 years on the board for most of their combined tenure as chairman and vice-chairman, respectively.
