Three Beaufort County municipalities — Bath, Pantego and Washington Park — held uncontested elections this election cycle.

In Bath, 101 total votes were cast: 34 votes for the mayor Jimmy Latham; commissioner Keith Tankard received 34 votes; John Taylor, 33.

“I don’t know if there is a lack of interest (in running for offices), or (the residents) think the town is running smoothly in the direction it’s going, from what I’ve heard,” Taylor said about why there was no competition this year.

“I was born here; I grew up here, and I’ve seen a lot of changes,” Taylor said. “We lowered our taxes, we have more property than we used to have, we have a town hall we inherited from the school, we’ve paved streets — we’ve done all this stuff without raising taxes. When you do (things like that), people feel like you’re heading in the right direction.”

In Washington Park, incumbent Mayor Tom Richter had a total of 54 votes. The uncontested commissioners results were: Lee Bowen, 55 votes; Belinda Cowell, 56 votes; Wade Dale, 52 votes; Patrick Nash, 51 votes; and Jeff Peacock, 54 votes.

With regard to the fact that the races were uncontested, Dale said it was a stress-less election.

“I think that (public office) is a job that requires some difficult decisions at times, and I think people don’t like to make those decisions,” Dale said. “The board is acting in the best interest of the Park. I think we just want to keep it the wonderful place that it is.”