On Tuesday, the Person County Board of Elections will conduct the official canvass of Person County’s balloting in the May 6 primary elections. Barring any unusual developments, which aren’t anticipated, the board will certify results showing that Person County voters supported the leaders in all statewide contests, with but two exceptions.

There is potential, however, for at least one of those exceptions to change. That could come in the Democratic presidential preference primary. In that one, Person County Democrats defied the unofficial ultimate outcome statewide that saw Illinois Sen. Barack Obama soundly defeat New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by a 14-point margin, 56 percent to 42 percent. Person gave the nod to Clinton, but barely so. The unofficial tally gave the former first lady the lead over Obama by a mere 12 votes. So close was that race here that the numbers easily could change in Tuesday’s canvass, if, for example, provisional ballots or other circumstances should come into play that might cause either candidate to gain or lose votes. With Clinton leading by such a narrow margin, it would not be a big surprise if the official canvass caused a switch showing Obama actually winning here. Either way, however, it won’t really matter except for the historical record.

Person County Elections Director Brenda Whitlow told The Courier-Times on Friday that in advance of the canvass at 11 a.m. Tuesday, election officials on Friday performed a “sample audit,” or a so-called “hand-to-eye” count, using the Democratic presidential primary as the sample, and, “all the numbers came out the same [as in the unofficial tally in that race], which means our voting equipment was reading correctly” she said.

The other race in which Person voters went against the grain on Tuesday was in the Democratic race for state commissioner of labor. Person Democrats favored former Labor Commissioner John Brooks, who finished with 29.8 percent of the Person County vote, ahead of Ty Richardson, who polled 28.2 percent. Statewide, this race was not settled Tuesday, and a runoff is likely between Brooks and Mary Fant Donnan, who actually was the leader in the race statewide. Donnan collected about 28 percent of the North Carolina vote to Brooks’ 24 percent. A primary candidate must amass at least 40 percent of the vote to claim the nomination outright. In this instance, Brooks is eligible to call for a runoff with Donnan, but he is not obligated to do so. Should he not, the state Board of Elections would declare Donnan the Democratic nominee to face Republican incumbent Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, who is seeking re-election and who did not have a primary opponent.

The closest race of the night on Tuesday in Person County came in the Republican primary for governor between Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and state Sen. Fred Smith. McCrory led the five-candidate field here in polling 510 votes. But Smith ran second with 500 votes in the unofficial count. Thus, next week’s canvass potentially could flip the result in this one, too, but with no significant consequence. McCrory readily outdistanced Smith among Republicans statewide in carrying 46 percent of the vote to Smith’s 37 percent, leading to Smith’s concession.

McCrory now will square off against Democratic Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue in the general election for the right to succeed Democratic Gov. Mike Easley.

Elections Director Whitlow said Election Day went well here on Tuesday.

“Most everything went as well as I had hoped,” she said, “And I thought the precinct workers did a great job of getting the results here very timely.”

Whitlow said her office had no word as of Friday as to whether there would be any runoffs in statewide races. There is a prospect for at least one, however.

Here’s a recap of the Person County results from all of the contests on the May 6 ballot. The names of the winning, or leading, candidates statewide appear in bold type:

PRESIDENT — Democrats — Hillary Clinton, 4,060; Barack Obama, 4,048; Mike Gravel, 85; No Preference, 235

PRESIDENT — Republicans — John McCain, 972; Mike Huckabee, 181; Ron Paul, 87; Alan Keyes, 28; No Preference, 8

U. S. SENATE — Democrats — Kay Hagan, 4,408; Jim Neal, 1,044; Marcus W. Williams, 915; Howard Staley, 337; Duskin C. Lassiter, 266

U.S. Senate — Republicans — Elizabeth Dole, 1,205; Pete Di Lauro, 102

U.S. CONGRESS (District 13) — Democrats — Brad Miller, 6,879; Derald Hafner, 741

GOVERNOR — Democrats — Bev Perdue, 4,165; Richard H. Moore, 3,698; Dennis Nielsen, 306

GOVERNOR — Republicans — Pat McCrory, 510; Fred Smith, 500; Bill Graham, 156; Robert F. (Bob) Orr, 99

LT. GOVERNOR — Democrats — Walter H. Dalton, 3,654; Hampton Dellinger, 2,375; Pat Smathers, 798; Dan Besse, 283

LT. GOVERNOR— Republicans — Robert Pettinger, 615; Jim Snyder, 217; Timothy Cook, 186; Greg Dority, 142

AUDITOR — Democrats — Beth A. Wood, 3,975; Fred Aikens, 2,489

INSURANCE COMMISSIONER — Democrats — Wayne Goodwin, 3,488; David C. Smith, 2,826

LABOR COMMISSIONER — Democrats — John C. Brooks, 1,882; Ty Richardson, 1,781; Mary Fant Donnan, 1,347; Robin Anderson, 1,304

SUPT. OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION — Democrats — June St. Clair Atkinson, 3,367; Eddie Davis, 3,206

SUPT. OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION — Republicans — Richard Morgan, 625; Joe Johnson, 257; Eric H. Smith, 177

TREASURER — Democrats — Janet Cowell, 3,094; David Young, 2,394; Michael Weisel, 1,192

STATE SENATE (District 23) — Democrats — Ellie Kinnaird, 4,138; Moses Carey Jr., 3,097

COUNTY COMMISSIONER (3 slots) — Democrats — Jimmy B. Clayton, 4,558; Ray Jeffers, 3,912; Samuel H. Winstead, 3,254; Mike Barrett, 3,125; David Brooks, 2,610