Mayoral race closest on record

Tuesday’s Chapel Hill mayoral election results are the closest in documented history — and could become subject to a recount.

Mayor-elect Mark Kleinschmidt defeated fellow Town Council member Matt Czajkowski by a mere 99 votes, according to unofficial results from the State Board of Elections.

“They tend to be close when you have an open seat,” said Jonathan Howes, mayor of Chapel Hill from 1987 to 1991 and adjunct professor of city and regional planning. “This one was different in the sense that there was an organized view to bring a different view than the prevailing one on Town Council.”

And the margin could possibly grow slimmer.

The Orange County Board of Elections decided Thursday to count the 86 provisional ballots cast on Election Day.

If Czajkowski pulls within 1 percent — or 86 votes — of Kleinschmidt in the polls, he could call for a recount.

Czajkowski is used to close races. In 2007, he defeated incumbent Cam Hill for a seat on the Town Council by only 60 votes.

Until the 2009 election, the closest documented margin of victory in mayoral races dated back to 1979 — the earliest record the Orange County Board of Elections has.

Thirty years ago, according to Board of Elections records, Joe Nassif edged Robert Epting 2,076 votes to 1,813, a difference of only 263 votes. Gerry Cohen finished a close third with 1,495.

The 1979 election saw a low margin of victory because all three candidates were extremely qualified, said former Chapel Hill mayor Rosemary Waldorf.

Tuesday’s election had a small margin not only because it featured two current Town Council members, but because both candidates ran well-organized campaigns, Waldorf said.

“The campaign was very high-toned. They both ran vigorous, clean, issue-based campaigns,” she said. “There are a lot of people that wanted to vote for Mark because they saw him as progressive and they saw him as a continuation of the current council.”

And Czajkowski, with his business-oriented platform, presented a fresh alternative, she said.

“There are always people who want to vote for what they think as change, and Czajkowski successfully established himself as a change candidate,” Waldorf said.

North Carolina is currently a state full of close margins at the polls, said Ferrel Guillory, adjunct professor for the Program on Public Life.

He pointed to last year’s presidential election, in which Barack Obama carried the state by less than 1 percentage point.

“In the modern era, this is the land of close elections,” Guillory said. “Our growing cities have been divided between those who welcome growth and those who worry about growth.”

He said the town’s election might have been so close because Chapel Hill is currently dealing with the issue of how to handle growth.

“It was an open seat, so it was time for a good debate in the direction Chapel Hill goes in.”

The provisional ballots will be counted by Tuesday, said Tracy Reams, Board of Elections director. If close enough, Czajkowski would have to submit a written request for a recount by 5 p.m. the next day.

Czajkowski could not be reached.

Kevin Wolff and Augustus Cho, the two other candidates on the ballot, received a combined 323 votes, or 3.78 percent of the vote.

Bruce Ballentine, a Czajkowski supporter, said the pair likely cost Czajkowski the election.

“If they didn’t run, most of their votes if not all would have gone to Czajkowski,” he said. “You’re really talking about a dead heat.”

Senior writer Mark Abadi contributed reporting.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.