by Geoff Fox
Residents of the town of Hancock headed to Town Hall on Monday, April 21, to cast their ballots for two members of the town council and mayor.
There are 987 registered voters on the election roll.
Of those 987 voters, only 130 total ballots were cast in the election. Three of the ballots were absentee ballots.
Mayor Roland Lanehart, Jr. was running unopposed in the election and won re-election. He received 107 votes.
Five people were vying for two council seats – incumbents David Kerns and Patrick Norris, and challengers Preston Hall, Terry Breakall-Smith, and Craig Ziler.
Kerns and Norris were both seeking their first full election to their seats on council as both had been appointed to fill vacant seats in 2021 and 2022, respectively
Polls were open from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. in the small meeting room at Hancock Town Hall.
Hancock voters chose Breakall-Smith and Kerns to be the newly elected councilmembers.
Breakall-Smith was the top vote getter with 82 votes, followed by Kerns with 81. Norris finished with 45, Ziler with 29, and Hall with six.
Lanehart, Breakall-Smith, and Kerns will be sworn in at the May town meeting on Tuesday, May 13