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Nancy Phelps Barrett narrowly defeated Cynthia Marie Calos to secure reelection to the office of mayor for the town of Branchville.

The outcome of the election was in doubt on Tuesday, Nov. 7, and in the days following the election as Barrett received 16 votes and Calos had received 14, with provisional and post-election ballots still outstanding.

However, Southampton County Registrar Lynn Burgess confirmed Tuesday, Nov. 14, that though the votes had not yet been certified, the outcome of the election was known. She reported that each candidate had received a single provisional vote, bringing the totals to 17 for Barrett and 15 for Calos.

Later that Tuesday, Barrett shared her thoughts on the results.

“It took long enough, but it turned out the way I hoped it would,” she said. “And I really think it’s the best thing for the town that’s all concerned because there have been some terrible misunderstandings about the whole thing coming from the one that ran against me. I’m not going to knock her, I’m not going to say anything bad about her, but I wouldn’t have done it the way she did it, but anyway… But I’m glad it turned out the way it did, and I appreciate everybody that voted for me.”

Calos had concerns about the process and results of the election, which she expressed to the voter registration office, but she said she learned that a recount would not take place in this instance.

In her statement on the outcome of the election, Calos communicated congratulations to Barrett.

“It was a good race,” Calos said.

The electoral victory grants Barrett her second four-year term, and she briefly shared her goals both present and future.

“Right now we’re working on trying to get us a town office,” she said. “We don’t have one. We were working in a town office that was inside the fire department. So when COVID came along, the office there was so small, there’s no way to social distance or whatever in there, so we just decided maybe we needed to get our own office, so we’re working on trying to get that done.”

She said she and Branchville leaders are also working on cleaning up the town.

“We’ve got one unsafe building down, and we’re working on getting another one down so that we can keep everything safe for everybody that’s in the community,” she said.