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What appears to be a razor-thin margin of victory for incumbent Mike Altizer could lead to a recount in the Vinton District election for a seat on the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors.

Before absentee ballots were counted Tuesday night, Democrat Pat Patterson, director of guidance at William Byrd High School, held a 35-vote lead over Republican Altizer.

When those final ballots were added, however, the state board of elections Web site showed that Altizer won 102 of 153 absentee votes, giving him a 16-vote lead.

The margin of victory was a mere 0.3 percent.

Altizer credited Patterson, who began his campaign a year ago, with working hard and doing "a lot of things right." He also said he anticipates a recount.

But Altizer said he does not believe the narrow margin is "a mandate for change. Nevertheless, you always want to talk to citizens and see how they feel."

After the initial elation of sensing a win, Patterson said late Tuesday he "hadn't thought of a recount yet." He said he will visit the registrar's office for the canvas of votes today.

If the result stands up, the board of supervisors will continue to have a Republican majority, as it has for most of the past decade.

Ed Elswick, who defeated incumbent Joe McNamara in a June primary, bested Democrat Sarah Goodman on Tuesday to keep the Windsor Hills position in GOP hands.

And incumbent Richard Flora, also a Republican, easily defeated Democrat Charlene Waybright to hold on to his Hollins seat on the board.

With Altizer holding his seat, the board continues to have one Democrat, Cave Spring's Charlotte Moore, and an independent, Catawba's Butch Church.

Neither Moore nor Church was up for re-election this year.

In each of the contested races, candidates talked about creating jobs and tightening budgets. But in every race, there was also an undercurrent of questions related to the board's 2008 sale of about $60 million in lease revenue bonds for a group of capital improvement projects.

In particular, challengers -- including both the Windsor Hills candidates -- questioned the propriety of building a new $31 million recreation and aquatics center in North County.

That project apparently got voter attention in both of Elswick's campaigns.

Elswick was critical of county spending overall, particularly for things such as automobiles for county employees and what he considered extravagant touches in a new South County library.

Dissatisfaction over the recreation center, especially, also may have had some impact in the Vinton race. Altizer was the board's strongest supporter of that project.

Altizer, who is slated to give the annual State of the County address in two weeks, noted that 2010 will be a particularly difficult year to create a budget.

The Flora-Waybright contest was perhaps the most noncontroversial and nonconfrontational of the three races.

Waybright chose not to bite when Church charged that Flora isn't actually living in his own district but spending most of his time at a home on the street where Church lives.

Flora maintained that his legal residence is, in fact, in the Hollins District, and the county's Democratic Party chairman, Brian Lang, earlier said the issue was personal and irrelevant to the election.

Last-minute write-in campaigns, such as one waged by talk radio commentator Al Bedrosian for Flora's seat, often represent a chance for voters to express their frustrations but are rarely successful. No information on the number of votes Bedrosian may have received was available at press time.