HALIFAX — Who will be the next mayor of Scotland Neck? The incumbent James Mills? The challenger Raymond Watson? A week after the vote, the outcome is far from certain.

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Watson had the lead when the votes were counted on Nov. 3. Tuesday after the Halifax County Board of Elections canvassed the votes and considered the questionable ballots, Mills was declared the winner by a single vote. Then before the dust could settle, the board changed its mind.

County Elections Director Kristin Smith announced the endorsement of the election had been withdrawn. He said, “The decision was made after consulting the State Board of Elections based on several factors pertaining to the election. Our office will continue to be in contact with the State Board of Elections and will inform the public as new information becomes available.” This move may mean a recount in the election and is the second mayoral election in Scotland Neck which has ended without a clear winner and demanded a reconsideration of the count.

Earlier in the day when the board had him ahead by single vote, Mills accepted the results from Board Chair Mitchell Robinson. Apparently re-elected, Mills said, “I’ll take a victory if it’s one vote.”

Watson wasn’t pleased. He didn’t jump into victory lane on election day, because of the closeness of the race but the numbers then still had him in the number one position.

When asked before he left the canvas Tuesday if he would protest the board’s count, Watson said he was pretty sure he would. But then around 5:15 p.m. after the citizens and press had disbanded, believing they had the official results of the election information came in from the board saying the Scotland Neck vote certification was rescinded.

“I didn’t stay,” said Watson. “About 5:45 I got a call telling me they were rescinding it.” Watson said he and his campaign will continue to file the paperwork to protest the vote. “When they told us, we had already started the paperwork and we’re going to file it anyway.” Watson said he wanted to make sure the paperwork was there by Friday, just in case there was some new issue to come up.

Watson said he wasn’t satisfied with the way the Board of Elections handled the provisional ballots and he had some real concerns about some of the ballots that were counted. “We don’t think a lot of them lived in town,” he said.

Town commissioner candidate Kenneth Branch agreed. He said he wasn’t surprised at the board’s decision. He said he pointed out some discrepancies to the board and that list will be filed with his appeal. “All we ask for is a fair election in Scotland Neck,” he said.

Incumbent James Mills was not available for comment at press time.