Runoff Set for Raleigh Mayoral Race

The Wake County Board of Elections said the results of thenonpartisan election showed Coble edging Meeker 49.15 percent to47.65 percent - a difference of 587 votes out of 39,227 cast. Toavoid the runoff, a candidate needed 50 percent of the vote plusone.

A third candidate, IBM Corp. executive Joel Cornette, received1.96 percent of the vote. Write-in candidates received 1.25percent.

The elections board, which on Thursday counted 410 provisionalballots and tallied several dozen write-ins and other leftoverballots, certified the results Friday.

Provisional ballots are cast mainly by people who moved to newprecincts but did not notify the elections board.

The final count varied little from the unofficial resultsTuesday night, which gave Coble 49.2 percent to Meeker's 47.6percent.

The recount went smoother than last year, when board memberscounted and recounted a record 9,300 provisional ballots, delayingdeclared winners in a Wake commissioner and a Wake district judgerace for two weeks.

Voter turnout was light Tuesday, with about 19.6 percent of thecity's registered voters going to the polls.

Growth was the major issue in the race, with Meeker and Cornetteblaming Coble for heavy traffic and development that has chewed upmost of the ground between the city's core and its boundaries.

Coble, 47, a Republican, countered that he has promoted wideningroads and supported adding hundreds of acres of parks and greenwaysto the city.

Raleigh, with 276,093 residents, was the nation's 40thfastest-growing city among those with a population of 100,000 ormore, according to the 2000 Census.

Meeker, a Democrat who served on the city council from 1985 to1989 and from 1991 to 1995, said he would welcome more growth anddevelopment as long as it's managed better than it has been.

Meeker, 51, is a Republican lawyer and has run for mayor twicebefore, losing in 1989 to Avery Upchurch and finishing third behindCoble and Stephanie Fanjul in 1999.