The state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that all five original candidates for two seats on the Clayton Town Council appear on the ballot in a new election.

The ruling upheld a decision by Wake County Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood, who also said that the five candidates in the Nov. 6 election should be on the ballot again.

The state Board of Elections had appealed Hobgood's ruling. The Board of Elections argued that only the second- and third-place finishers -- Art Holder and R.S. "Butch" Lawter -- should be on the ballot because they were the only ones who could have been affected by a voting mix-up.

During the November election, 18 out-of-town voters got in-town ballots and two in-town voters got out-of-town ballots.

Alex Harding received 527 votes, placing him first in the race for two seats. Holder had 516 votes, and Lawter had 513 votes. Alexander R. Atchison finished fourth with 457 votes, and Michael Starks was fifth with 124 votes.

In its ruling, the appeals court cited a state law that says all candidates in an original election must appear on the ballot in a new election. The law makes an exception if the irregularities in the original election could not have affected the election of one or more of the leading vote getters.

The judges said that because the three leading vote getters were within 18 votes of each other, they could have been affected by the voting problem. Therefore, the court said, the state law requires the inclusion of all the original candidates in the new election.