Murphy – It has been a historic year for Murphy municipal elections.
The election cycle kicked off with one of two mayoral candidates dropping out of the race less than a month after filing to appear on the ballot. A week later, a candidate for town council dropped out of the race amid a hearing challenging whether she met the residency requirements.
Those two events left the slate of candidates for town municipal offices virtually unopposed. But in the eleventh hour, a political newcomer who worked downtown for more than 30 years launched a write-in campaign that produced shocking results.
Charlene Smith, who did not appear on the ballot, received more votes than all other candidates running for a seat on town council. Election officials say Smith received 149 of the 162 votes that were cast for write-in candidates seeking a council seat. It was the first time in at least 26 years that a write-in candidate won an election in Cherokee County.
“There were six positions and six candidates, so there was no other choice,” Smith said regarding why she jumped in the race. “I had people say they wanted another choice. I decided to be that choice.”
Charlene’s husband, Noland Smith, serves on the town council until next month, when a new board will take the oath of office. She initially wanted him to seek a second term, but she was later convinced to run herself after he declined due to work and family commitments.
“The town council actually asked Noland, ‘Why don’t you just reconsider and run as a write-in?’ ” Charlene recalled. “He said, ‘No, I’ve made my decision.’ He said, ‘My wife might consider that.’ And then someone reached out to me. ...
“I know it seems odd that I would wait until the last minute. I didn’t plan it in any underhanded way.”
Charlene made the decision to run as a write-in candidate less than two weeks before the election. She notified election officials about her intentions and obtained a list of all registered voters living within town limits. She then mailed about 230 letters to people she knew and requested their support on Nov. 2.
“I reached out in a personal way to people I knew or had some type of connection with,” she said. “I followed up some of those letters with a phone call.”
Among other things, Charlene looks forward to working with fellow council members to further improve the town’s aging infrastructure, ensure the police department is adequately funded to combat crime and increase economic development.
“I want our local young people to be able to remain in the area, make a good living and support new and existing businesses,” she said. “We are all more alike than different. In this world today, there’s so much division, and it breaks my heart. We can work together to find solutions to better our community, our state and our country.”
Charlene will serve on the Murphy Town Council alongside incumbents Frank Dickey, Barbara Hughes, Barry McClure, Gail Stansell and newcomer Keisha Dockery. Tim Radford will serve as the town’s next mayor. They all will take the oath of office at the Monday, Dec. 6, meeting.