Breaking News · Election 2026 · Hoke County · Raeford · Local Government · School Board · Sales Tax · Accountability · DINA Analysis

RAEFORD, North Carolina, November 3, 2026, 8:32 p.m. ET — Updated 9:39 p.m. ET: Hoke County's latest unofficial election-night upload shows voters rejecting the local sales-tax referendum 11,140 to 3,917 with all 15 precincts reported. Keisha Bronson Gill, Gwendolyn Robinson and Angela Southerland hold the first three positions in the 10-candidate school-board contest. Allen Thomas, Deborah McMillan-Evans and Harry Southerland lead the vote-for-three county-commission race.

What actually happened

The State Board's county dashboard first showed 10,935 ballots with no Election Day precincts reported in a 7:52 p.m. upload. At 8:37 p.m., the county uploaded returns from nine precincts. The 9:10 p.m. upload brought the precinct count to 15 of 15. In the county's local sales-and-use-tax referendum, “Against” has 11,140 votes, or 73.99%, and “For” has 3,917, or 26.01%. That is a 7,223-vote gap.

In the nonpartisan Hoke County Board of Education race, where voters may choose three, Gill leads with 5,335 votes. Robinson has 4,898 and Southerland has 4,822. Catherine Blue is fourth with 4,386, Christopher A. Leach fifth with 4,243 and Darrin L. McNeill sixth with 4,132. Gary Brigman, John F. Harry, George Small and Roosevelt McPherson follow. The dashboard also lists 237 miscellaneous write-in votes. Southerland's current third-place lead over Blue is 436 votes.

In the vote-for-three Hoke County Board of Commissioners contest, Democrats Allen Thomas, Deborah McMillan-Evans and Harry Southerland occupy the first three positions. Thomas has 9,372 votes, McMillan-Evans 8,955 and Southerland 8,390. Republicans Stephanie Carter and David Frump have 5,753 and 5,469, respectively.

Democrat Evelyn M. McLeod is unopposed for clerk of superior court and has 12,408 votes. Democrat Roderick Virgil is unopposed for sheriff and has 12,674. In the vote-for-two soil-and-water contest, Neill McKenzie has 7,886 and Pat Lyons 7,254, with 1,211 miscellaneous write-in votes.

Why the results are still unofficial

“15 of 15 precincts reported” means the election-night dashboard has a return from every Hoke precinct. It does not mean every eligible ballot has been finally resolved. Provisional ballots remain subject to review, eligible absentee ballots can be counted within the statutory timetable, and audit or canvass work can identify corrections.

Vote-for-three contests also produce more candidate selections than ballots, and voters may choose fewer than three candidates. Candidate-vote totals cannot be read as a separate turnout count. The sales-tax contest has 15,057 votes in the latest upload, 1,015 fewer than the ballot count shown for the county; the dashboard summary alone does not explain whether that difference consists of undervotes, overvotes, ballots without the measure or another reporting category.

County canvass is scheduled for November 13. Election-night totals remain unofficial until the legally required review, audit and canvass processes are complete.

Why it matters

The sales-tax vote could determine whether Hoke County gains an additional local revenue stream and which residents and purchases bear the cost. The school-board result will shape governance of Hoke County Public Schools, including oversight of budgets, contracts, facilities, staffing, transportation, safety and student outcomes. The commission result will affect county budgeting, development, public safety, capital projects and the county's funding relationship with the school district.

DINA analysis: The “Against” share held near 74% as reporting advanced from nine precincts to all 15, and the 7,223-vote margin is far larger than the number of ballots not reflected in the referendum vote total. On the current unofficial count, the referendum has been rejected. The school-board race requires closer post-election attention: Southerland's third-place position is 436 votes ahead of Blue and 579 ahead of Leach.

Strongest accountability angle

The referendum asks voters to decide a revenue question, but election-night totals alone do not answer the policy questions behind it. County officials should make the proposed tax rate, effective date, estimated annual collections, permitted uses, planned allocation formula and any prior spending commitments easy to locate in one public record. If voters reject the measure after the full count, commissioners should identify which projects or recurring expenses were expected to rely on that revenue and what alternatives remain.

For the election count itself, the public should be able to reconcile every county upload to voting method and precinct. The first dashboard entry showed ballots without Election Day precincts; the 8:37 p.m. update added nine precincts; the 9:10 p.m. update completed the precinct report. Election officials should preserve the upload log and disclose whether any correction changes previously posted totals.

Urgent follow-up and public records

  • Hoke County's election-night upload log, including transmission time, accepted-file time, voting method, precincts included, rejected uploads, corrections and system acknowledgments.
  • The precinct-status report for all 15 Hoke precincts, including poll closing, results-media return, reconciliation completion and upload time.
  • Voting-method totals for one-stop early voting, absentee by mail, Election Day, provisional and transfer ballots for each local contest.
  • Ballot-accounting and reconciliation forms showing ballots issued, cast, spoiled, duplicated, transferred and counted at each precinct and early-voting site.
  • The county's public education materials, financial projections and governing-board records for the local sales-and-use-tax referendum, including the estimated annual revenue and proposed uses.
  • Post-election audit records, provisional-ballot determinations and the November 13 canvass abstract when available.

Sources

This is a developing report. DINA will update the article if election officials publish a material correction, audit finding, provisional-ballot decision or canvass record.