Elizabeth Sharp has officially won the fourth seat on the Chapel Hill Town Council, following more than a week of uncertainty over who would win the position because of uncounted ballots.
Sharp ended just six votes ahead of Renuka Soll, who like Sharp was an ally of mayoral candidate Adam Searing.
The final results come after late mail-in ballots and provisional ballots were counted by the Orange County and Durham County boards of elections on Thursday and certified on Friday. Before the final results were certified, Sharp led Soll by 16 votes.
This is Soll's second town council election defeat — she also ran in 2019 but finished in seventh place. Though Soll is within the margin to request a recount, it does not appear she will do so.
The final make-up of the four council seats includes three candidates backed by mayor-elect Jess Anderson's supporters — Amy Ryan, Theodore Nollert and Melissa McCullough. Sharp represents the sole Searing- and Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town- aligned candidate to win a seat. Sharp and Soll both finished more than 1,300 votes and three percent of the vote behind the three front-runners.
Sharp will join Searing on the council at least until Searing's term ends in 2025. Sharp's term will end in 2027.
