Mooring wins deeds race
By Matt Shaw
Published in News on November 3, 2004 2:02 PM
Next month Lois Mooring will move one floor down in the Wayne County Courthouse and into a bigger spotlight.
Mrs. Moor-ing, a deputy clerk of court, was elected Tuesday night as the new Wayne County register of deeds. It was the Democrat's first run for office.
"I want to express a big thanks to everyone who played a part in my campaign," Mrs. Mooring said today. "Our hard work has paid off."
Mrs. Mooring received 20,210 votes, or 53 percent, to Chris West's 17,770 votes in unofficial returns. Her margin is too great to be reversed by the number of provisional ballots that remain to be counted.
It was one of the strongest wins for a Wayne County Democrat in Tuesday's election. People who voted for Republicans in national and state races voted for Mrs. Mooring in the deeds race.
She said that she wanted to assure all citizens that "I am humbled to be your elected register of deeds, and don't forget that I work for you."
She plans to retain the current staff in the deeds office and to continue the modernization that was begun by former deeds officer Debbie Lane and current officer John Chance. Both Chance and Ms. Lane are Democrats.
She made another promise -- that all her campaign signs will be picked up in a couple of days.
West said Tuesday night that he was disappointed. He has a competitive spirit and wanted to win, he said.
But he said he was happy that more than 17,000 people voted for him. And he wasn't surprised, having figured the vote could go either way.
"It's been a great learning tool," he said. "If somebody told me 10 years ago I'd run for office, I would not have believed it."
Mrs. Mooring will be sworn into office in early December. Her term of office will be four years.