THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, November 9, 1995             TAG: 9511090388
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: EDENTON                            LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

FORMER MAYOR TRAILS, 216-214, IN RACE FOR EDENTON WARD SEAT

On the morning after the election, one of two neck-and-neck candidates said he will wait for official returns before deciding whether to challenge Tuesday's municipal balloting.

In a race for one seat in Edenton's 2nd Ward, Don Latham unofficially received 216 votes to former Mayor Roy Harrell's 214.

``I'll make up my mind about contesting the election after we hear from the state election board in Raleigh,'' said Harrell Wednesday.

The 2nd Ward race was one of the closest in the Albemarle. But Edenton's simple plurality election rules will make Latham the winner unless Harrell can upset the results with a recount or a challenge, said Rebecca Lowe, supervisor of the Chowan County Board of Elections.

``We don't have runoffs in Edenton under the plurality system,'' Lowe said. ``We'll have a meeting of our election board to review the returns and then send our figures to the State Board of Elections.

``Unless there is a successful demand for a recount or a challenge,'' said Lowe, ``the certified figures that come back from Raleigh will officially decide the election.''

Harrell has had a colorful political career in Chowan County. His decision to run for the 2nd Ward seat focused citywide attention on the election.

In Hertford, where former Mayor William ``Bill'' Cox successfully sailed back into Perquimans County politics, residents are waiting to see what municipal course Cox will steer when he joins council.

For nearly 20 years, as Hertford's mayor or town manager, Cox ran a taut but happy ship until his retirement two years ago. If a street light burned out, Cox often tailed the utility truck to see that it was replaced.

On Tuesday, he finished ahead of five other council candidates to take a council seat. Billy L. Winslow, an incumbent on the council, ran second to take the other council seat.

Cox has the unusual distinction of having the four-lane stretch of arterial U.S. 17 in Perquimans County officially named for him. Cox has devoted a good part of his life to demanding - and getting - interstate-quality improvements to U.S. 17 from Virginia, through North Carolina, and into South Carolina.

KEYWORDS: ELECTION RESULTS CITY COUNCIL RACE by CNB