NEWBERRY COUNTY — All across the nation all the way to a local level, the election fever hit Newberry County with people either voting out incumbents or opting for repeats.

On a local level, the close races were for the treasurer seat and county council 1 seat. Karen Lindler was re-elected to treasurer with 9,089 votes compared to her opponent Jackie Haltiwanger who received 6,846 votes.

Scott Cain managed to defeat opponent Tim Carroll, 1,141 to 1,078 votes. Cain defeated the incumbent Edgar Baker in the primaries.

Carroll said good-bye to public office as he opted to not run for mayor of Whitmire again. That race was contested between two council members, Chrystal Harsha and Billy Hollingsworth.

However Hollingsworth defeated Harsha, 292 to 214. Since Hollingsworth was a current council member, there will be a special election held April 2 for his seat.

Another town who said good-bye to their long time mayor was Little Mountain. Buddy Johnson opted not to run again and since nobody else filed to run, that left room for write-ins.

However, since the write-in winner, Marty Frick, declined the mayor position and Johnson did not want to continue, there will be a special election held April 2.

The school board had three board members to come back for another term: Lucy Anne Meetze, Jody Hamm and Ike Bledsoe.

However, Jessie Reeder replaced Gregg Taylor in the district 6 area, 1,114 to 582 votes. With Reeder on board, the school board now has two female board members.

The solicitor race was another close race for the Eighth Circuit which includes Newberry County. David Stumbo defeated incumbent Jerry Peace as well as Newberry attorney Ben Shealy.

Jeff Duncan and Mick Mulvaney also were re-elected to their congressional seats. Duncan serves the Third Congressional area while Mulvaney serves the Fifth Congressional area.

As far as the major presidential race, Newberry was at odds against the majority of the country as Barack Obama was re-elected for a second term.

Newberry County opted for Mitt Romney with 9,218 votes compared to Obama’s 6,891 votes. Obama garnered no electoral votes. However, Obama will serve the country for another four years making history as the first Black president to serve twice.