Salem City Councilman Craig Morton has won another term. Meanwhile, only two votes separate the next two candidates and is too close to call with more potential early and absentee votes to be added to the total during the next two weeks.
Morton currently has 332 votes. Tracy Crouch currently has 194 votes, two ahead of Jeffrey Baldridge. Jacob Hockett ran fourth with 136 votes and Neil Canon finished fifth with 55 votes.
Fox expects there will be additional votes to be added to the total.
“There are going to be a few more ballots that I’m sure will be counted. Any vote by mail ballots that are postmarked today have 14 days to be returned. We have some provisional ballots that we are going to have to look at to see if they are countable.”
And Fox notes all returns are unofficial until after the official canvas on April 25th.
Morton has released a statement on his victory. He says he begins his next term, he is committed to continuing the positive momentum that has been built in the community. He is proud to announce that this will be his last term and he is eager to make the most of it. Morton is promising to work hard to ensure that the soccer complex remains funded and that the city continues to make progress on our community’s important projects, such as continued growth in the industrial park. Morton concludes by saying, let’s keep Salem on the right track and make the city an even better place to call home.
Salem Mayor Nic Farley ran unopposed for re-election, finishing with 432 votes.
Only 13-percent of the voters went to the polls for the city election.
