Despite a tight race as a test case and even the reservation of a winner, advocates for instant-runoff voting say Cary’s pilot program went well.

Cary became the first municipality in the state to use the program Oct. 9. The system was put to the test in Cary’s District B, where Don Frantz held a slim lead over Vickie Maxwell after balloting ended Oct. 9.

As of press time, it appeared that Frantz had taken the seat by 53 votes.

Maxwell said that because of the closeness of the race she had not conceded.

The test of the new system came Thursday, when Wake County Board of Elections members, staff and volunteers from the League of Women Voters of Wake County counted the votes.

“I think it went very well,” said Cherie Poucher, director of the Wake County Board of Elections.

Frantz wasn’t as sure.

“This has been the stressful experience of my life,” Frantz said. “[It’s] an emotional roller coaster.”

Unofficially, the results from Tuesday’s election showed Frantz in front, 1,142-1,061, ahead of Maxwell but without having gained at least 50 percent of the votes plus one. Incumbent Nels Roseland finished third and was out of the runoff. His 791 votes from Tuesday, on many of which voters chose to rank Frantz or Maxwell second or third, were the ballots counted Thursday.

At the end of Thursday’s counting, it appeared that Frantz had a 28-vote lead with the possibility of at least 35 provisional ballots.

Poucher said Friday that an audit revealed that the seeming 28-vote margin resulted from a group of Frantz’s votes being added to Maxwell’s at the end of the Thursday’s tally process.

Once that discrepancy was detected and the count adjusted, Frantz’s actual cushion was 53 votes, Poucher said.

“That’s why they have audits and the process worked,” Frantz said. “I just wish somebody had put me in a coma for three days.”

As it turned out, there were 29 provisional ballots to be counted and five more that may have been counted Tuesday depending on what the board decided, Poucher said.

The board was also scheduled to certify the vote totals from all races on Tuesday. The results of that count and certification were not available at press time.

Cary was the first municipality in the state to try the runoff approach. The N.C. General Assembly approved the approach as a pilot program last year for up to 10 cities in 2007 and 10 counties in 2008. The Town Council agreed in May for Cary to be one of the cities to try the program. Hendersonville is also participating.

Elections officials and leaders of several election-reform organizations call the instant runoff a way to give choices back to voters, save counties and municipalities money and take some money out of politics.

Bob Hall with Democracy North Carolina pointed out that that two-thirds of the voters for Roseland made a second or third choice on their ballot.

“All new things take time, and this method of preference voting is off to a good start — including providing another example that your vote can make a difference,” Hall said.

Good start or not, Frantz found the instant-runoff stressful.

“I think it stinks,” Frantz said, “because the individuals who voted for this don’t have to go through it. The system wasn’t broke and I don’t know why we’re trying to fix it.”

Maxwell was more upbeat. “It’s kind of exciting,” she said. “I feel like I understand the process.”

Many voters interviewed about the process Oct. 9 agreed with Maxwell.

Two other Cary council races — at large and District D, with four and three candidates on the ballot, respectively — had the potential for the instant runoff.

Polly Jenkins lives in District B in central Cary. She said she had read several articles about Cary’s instant-runoff voting pilot program and had no problem with it “since I was prepared.”

Ed Bright, who voted in District C in southeast Cary, said Cary’s use of the instant-runoff voting pilot “sounded like a good idea. I was glad to see Cary try that out.”

Kelley Reep said she knew “all about” instant-runoff voting when she cast her ballot in District D in southwest Cary but “I don’t even think I put a second choice.”

Not everyone was as sanguine. William Meyer, who voted in District B in north Cary, said he hoped voters were not confused by instant-runoff voting. “I think by doing that they’ve complicated the system,” Meyer said.

For another voter, acceptance of the new method was just a matter of time.

“We’ll have to try it a time or two,” said Larry Stringfellow of District D in southwest Cary. “It’ll have to be on the ballot a few times before people trust it.”