No candidates were on this year's ballot in Whitley Heights, and only seven voters went to the polls. But that didn't make for a smooth election

First, there was confusion about which seats were up for grabs.

Until this year, voters had elected the three-member board all at once. Now the terms are staggered, with two members elected one year and one elected two years later.

Longtime board member Alvin Stevens said he and fellow board member David White became aware of the change after this year's filing period closed. "We thought we had missed the filing period," Stevens said.

Instead, the only seat up for election this fall was that of David Millard, who moved out of the district. But no one filed for that seat, so the only space on the ballot was for write-ins. Stevens said he recruited a neighbor who agreed to serve if elected, and Stevens said he figured the neighbor got three of the seven votes cast last week.

All seven of the ballots were provisional, because poll workers didn't have a list of Whitley Heights residents. The board wasn't scheduled to certify the provisional ballots until after the Herald went to press, so the names of the vote-getters were not availale. Stevens would not name the neighbor he recruited.

The three-member board governs sewer service in Whitley Heights, an unincorporated community around the intersection of Swift Creek Road and U.S. 70 Business, near the Johnston County Airport.