The North Carolina State Board of Elections showed unofficial results from the Nov, 3 election of the Madison County Commissioners candidates. Three Republicans - including two incumbents - ran against three Democrats for three seats on the five-seat board.
Published Nov. 4, 2026
Recap of Madison County elections held Nov. 3
Possible recount in Madison County Commissioners and NC House of Representatives races, School Board shifts from Democrat to Republican majority, County Commissioners now bipartisan & retains Republican majority, Sheriff Buddy Harwood re-elected, state chooses two precincts from each county for hand-eye vote tabulation - for Madison, it’s Ebbs Chapel and Laurel, ‘absolutely impossible’ for any illegal voting
The unofficial results for Madison County Nov. 3 election race came in late last night as 12 media runners arrived with the results from each of the 12 voting precincts - carrying a thumb drive and a paper voting roll - to Board of Elections Director Jacob Ray and the waiting Board of Elections, headed by Chair Dyatt Smathers.
The board will announce the official results during an open board meeting Nov. 13 at 11 a.m. at the Board of Elections office in Marshall.
He sat down with me this afternoon, Nov. 4., for a recap of the election.
The closest tally was the race for third place in the county commissioners race, as newcomer Will Briggs (R) edged out incumbent Alan Wyatt (R) by 27 votes - 4,858 to 4,831. Vice Chair Jeremy Hensley (R) came in 4 votes shy of fellow serving commissioner Wyatt, with 4,827 votes.
Democrat Mark Snelson came in first place with 5,680 votes, and he previously served on the board. Democrat Connie Molland, who has not served previously on the board, came in second place with 5,006 votes. Her fellow Democrat newcomer Shannon Dowler was in sixth place with 4,765 votes.
The formerly all-Republican Board of Commissioners is now bipartisan, with Republicans holding the majority.
“We could have someone request a recount,” said Smathers, pointing to the North Carolina State Board of Elections 163-182.7 rule regarding recounts.
He said both the county commissioners and NC House of Representatives District 118 contest between Jimmy Rogers (R) and Danny Davis (D) are eligible for recounts, with their vote tallies at 5,283 to 5,109.
Democrat Craig Goforth edged out Republican John Bratz for Madison School Board Chair with a tally of 5,857 to 4,581.
Goforth previously served on the board, and Bratz retains his District 2 seat for another 2 years, as he was elected in 2024 for a 4-years-term.
Democrat Deb Boone won District 2 over Republican Melissa Sluder, 2,787 to 2,043.
Republican Alex Robinson won District 1 over Democrat AJ Brownstein, 3,078 to 2,489.
With the 3 spots previously all held by Democrats, the school board now switches from a Democrat majority to a Republican majority.
Democrat and incumbent Sheriff Buddy Harwood won over Republican Robin Lyles, 6,337 to 3,898.
Soil & Water Conservation is nonpartisan, and both Scott Boone and Ross Young won the two available seats, edging out Jimmie Ramsey - 5,524, 5,226 and 4,773.
The state notified Ray this afternoon that the two precincts chosen for hand-eye tabulation for votes will be Ebbs Chapel and Laurel. The state is requiring two precincts of each county for hand-eye tabulation.
An earlier story Sept. 17 on how the early voting machines and Election Day voting would prevent previous illegal voting issues that had occurred in Madison County, and nearby Yancey County, did not prevent multiple people asking me questions about possible vote tampering.
So, I asked Smathers directly.
“Absolutely impossible,” said Smathers. “Every vote has a paper trail. Every single vote has a paper trail, and they count once. They don’t count twice.”
Voters who are ineligible to vote, wouldn’t have an opportunity to do so in this election, says Smathers, because of updated methods.
“Impossible for that to happen,” said Smathers. “We check documents, we check their IDs.”
Voters must also be pre-registered and provide paperwork that shows they’ve lived in the county for 30 days before the election. The voters’ information is then stored in a database and checked against an ID, he said.
And there’s no chance of what happened in Yancey County with ineligible felons voting during the 2010 election to have happened in Madison in 2026, Smathers said.
“No. None,” he said. “The trail is there from registration to actually casting the ballot. We can track that on our statewide database.”
To see the results:
To see the early machine voting story:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1A2HkFrYpw/?mibextid=wwXIfr
To see Johnny Bernard Casey IV’s story on voting numbers increase:
https://www.facebook.com/share/193m8zEaZE/?mibextid=wwXIfr
To see the “Ponder Machine” references:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponder_machine
To see the illegal voting in Madison:
https://www.citizen-times.com/.../ballot-box.../70858058/
To see the investigative series on Yancey County corruption, from award-winning Investigative Reporter Jonathan Austin of Yancey County News:
…it’s not online, but…
