Trinity’s new mayor, Carlton T. Boyles, was elected by less than 18 percent of the city’s eligible voters, an average turn out for a municipal election, said Patsy Foscue, director of the Randolph County Board of Elections.

Only 794 residents turned out to vote in a city that, as of Friday, has 4,505 registered voters.

“The turnout (for last week’s election) was about average,” Foscue said. “Municipal elections are the most important, and I don’t know why so few people voted.”

Preliminary results, according to the Randolph County Board of Elections, show that Boyles won with 370 votes, or 46.7 percent.

“It wasn’t about me, it was about the citizens, and I’m honored to serve the Council and citizens,” Boyles said. “The biggest complaint I heard when I went door to door was that people didn’t have any services for the taxes they were paying.”

Incumbent Fran Andrews had 226 votes, or 28.5 percent.

“I’m disappointed not to be re-elected,” Andrews acknowledged. “However, I know that the City Council will continue to do good work and make the progress needed for the city to move along.”

The remaining 24.8 percent of voters chose a write-in candidate. Councilman Kelly Grooms staged a campaign as a write-in for mayor. He retains his seat on City Council.

In the contest for Trinity City Council, Kristen Varner was elected for Ward 1 with 372 votes, or 56.1 percent. She competed with fellow newcomer Debra L. Frazier, who garnered 43.1 percent of the votes.

Incumbent Barry Lambeth was re-elected for Ward 2 with 97.5 percent of the votes and Tommy Johnson was elected to his first term as Ward 4 representative with 98.7 percent. Both candidates were unopposed.

A tightly divided race for Ward 3 ended with Councilwoman Karen Bridges serving another term. Bridges had 297 votes against Robin Russell’s 281 votes. Mike Robertson also competed, with 211 votes.

Bridges told the High Point Enterprise that her candor on issues helped her win.

“I think there are people who are pleased with how I voted and how I take a stand on things,” Bridges explained. “I had two worthy opponents who ran a good, clean race.”

The NEWS attempted to reach all candidates, but some had not returned calls by deadline.

The official canvass of votes, conducted by the Board of Elections, was certified Tuesday, too late for the edition of the NEWS.