 Unofficial tally shows Swett new chairman of Lumbee Tribe
By Paul Woolverton
Staff writer for Fayetteville Observer
LUMBERTON - Former school administrator Purnell Swett was elected chairman of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina in unofficial results Tuesday night.
Swett won 3,371 votes. Tony Hunt drew 2,758 votes, and William Terry Campbell had 649 votes. Swett said he and his committee impressed on his supporters that they had to get out to the polls. The results were slow to arrive because they were being counted by hand. The last ballots were handed in at 11:05 p.m.
Swett is scheduled to take office in January for a three-year term.
He said the Lumbee Tribe is facing one of the most critical times in its history, and he hopes he can bring a level of credibility to the government that he says it has lost. He will lead the government of the tribe of about 55,000 people, located mostly in southeast North Carolina. He replaces Jimmy Goins, who is leaving office because of term limits. The tribe administers a multi-million dollar budget made up of federal money and other sources. It does not levy taxes on its members.
Polling, conducted in Robeson and Scotland counties, concluded at 7:30 p.m. Ballots from the polling sites were delivered to the election headquarters set up in the Southeastern North Carolina Agricultural Center and Farmers Market in Lumberton.
In other elections:
District 1 incumbent Audrey Revels Hunt was re-elected with 247 votes. She defeated challengers Mary Lois Locklear Richardson, who had 185 votes, and Patricia Oxendine, who had 69 votes.
District 4 incumbent Helen Locklear beat challenger Patsy Wilkins 171 votes to 71 votes.
In District 5 incumbent Kernice Locklear defeated challenger Kenneth Ray Locklear 394 votes to 270 votes.
In District 7. Incumbent Robert Earl Chavis defeated Oceanus Lowry, 691 to 284.
The District 9 race will have a mandatory recount. Incumbent James T. Smith drew 155 votes to challenger David Locklear's 154 votes. Annie Brewer had 121 votes, and Alice Faye Revels had 141.
District 10 challenger Terry Collins won with 322 votes, defeating incumbent Bradley McMillian, with 177 votes, and challenger Leroy "Pete" Butler, who had 28 votes.
In District 14, Homer Fields defeated Rosemarie Hunt 118-64.
Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at woolvertonp@fayobserver.com or (910) 486-3512.
Originally Published Story can be found at (Link)
Other Lumbee Election Result Stories
2009 TRIBAL CHAIRMAN ELECTION UNOFFICIAL TALLY
2009 TRIBAL COUNCIL ELECTION UNOFFICIAL TALLY
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