What happens on Election Day in a town where nobody runs for office? People can still fill out a write-in candidate, but what if there are only two people to choose from and they’re also the only two registered voters? Spencer Mountain in Gaston County hasn’t had a town government or a single voter in the last four years, but on Tuesday the only two people living there wrote themselves in on the ballot. “They’ve not had city council meetings, they’ve not had a mayor, they’ve had nothing, so it’s quite interesting,” said Adam Ragan. “It’s an interesting situation.”
Ragan is the Gaston County Board of Elections Director and says it’s the strangest set of circumstances they’ve ever experienced. “We’re in uncharted territory,” Ragan said. “We don’t know how the government’s going to work because it’s not worked in the last four years.”
Spencer Mountain: Population 2, the smallest active municipality in the state.
“We went really just to try to keep the town alive,” said Chase White. White and his wife Alice are the only people who live here. They’re about to be the entire governing body of the town. “We decided he’d be mayor,” Alice said. “I didn’t know he was writing me in as council. I said, ‘I don’t know why you did that.'”
Read More Town’s only 2 residents vote for themselves on Election Day.