By Staff
period
is slow
No candidates
have filed yet
in Hyde County
By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Candidates in Beaufort, Hyde, Martin and Washington counties have been slow to file for office since the filing period opened this week, according to elections directors in those counties.
In Beaufort County, incumbent commissioners Jay McRoy, Hood Richardson, Jerry Langley and Robert Cayton have filed for re-election. Four of the seven seats on the Board of Commissioners are up for grabs this year. McRoy and Richardson are Republicans. Langley and Cayton are Democrats.
Republicans hold four of the seven seats on the board.
Bertie Daniels-Arnhols also filed to run for a seat on the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners.
Eltha Booth, who represents District 1 on the Beaufort County Board of Education, is seeking re-election. Mac Hodges, who represents District 5 on the school board, is seeking re-election.
Four seats on the Beaufort County Board of Education also are up for grabs. Two of those seats are held by John White, District 3; Chairman Robert Belcher, District 7. Booth and Hodges hold the other two seats.
Jennifer Leggett Whitehurst, the county’s register of deeds, is seeking another four-year term.
Those candidates filed at the election board’s new offices at 1308 Highland Drive, Building B. That building is part of the former Tideland Mental Health complex.
On the county’s Soil &Water Conservation District, one seat is up for election. That seat is held by Tracy Warren.
In Judicial District 2, two district-court judgeships are up for elections. Those judgeships are held by Chris McLendon and Michael Paul. Beaufort County is in that district. They are seeking re-election.
In Martin County, four candidates filed this week.
Three of the candidates filed to run for the three East District seats on the Board of Commissioners. Incumbents Elmo “Butch” Lilley and Tommy Bowen filed. They are Democrats. Republican Sheri G. Copeland also filed.
Tina P. Manning, the incumbent register of deeds, filed for re-election.
In Washington County, Democrat Tim Spear, has filed for re-election as the District 2 representative in the N.C. House of Representatives. Republican Chris East is challenging Spear for that seat, said Dora Bell, elections director.
Gregory Boston and C.E. “Buster” Manning, both Democrats, have filed to run for the District 4 seat on the Board of Commissioners.
Incumbent Jean Alexander, a Democrat, has filed for re-election to the board. She represents District 1 on the board.
Elaine Vann, the incumbent register of deeds, has filed for re-election.
In Hyde County, no one had filed for office as of 1 p.m. Friday, when the Board of Elections office closed. Usually, the office is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The filing period ends at noon Feb. 29.
Primaries will be conducted May 6. The last day to register to vote in the primaries is April 11. Absentee voting begins March 17 and ends April 29. One-stop voting begins April 17 and ends May 3. Primary winners advance to the general election, which is set for Nov. 4.
Qualified residents may register to vote and mark ballots on the same day during the one-voting period. That procedure was used for the first time in North Carolina during the 2007 elections. Because that procedure is permitted only during the early-voting period, it cannot be used on Election Day, before the one-voting period or the days between the end of the one-voting period and Election Day.