Voter registration for county’s municipal races ends Oct. 13
Published 4:52 pm Tuesday, September 26, 2017
The deadline to register to vote in the upcoming Nov. 7 municipal elections in Beaufort County is 5 p.m. Oct. 13.
One-stop voting begins Oct. 19 and runs through Nov. 4 at the Beaufort County Board of Elections, 1308 Highland Drive, Suite 104, Washington. Early voting (one-stop) will be conducted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 4.
Oct. 31 is the deadline to request an absentee ballot for the Nov. 7 elections, according to the N.C. Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.
The board will not operate satellite early voting sites for the municipal elections, according to Kellie Harris Hopkins, Beaufort County’s elections director. “With municipals, municipalities pay for their elections. No of them have asked us for an additional site, and if we did one, we’d have to do all of them,” she said. “Municipals are a little different. We don’t increase the (early voting) hours because turnout is never really that high.”
In Washington, 11 candidates are seeking seats on the five-member City Council. Mayor Mac Hodges is unopposed in his re-election bid. Incumbent council members Doug Mercer, William Pitt, Virginia Finnerty and Richard Brooks are seeking re-election. Former council member Gil Davis, William “Bill” Clark, Robert Sands, John Butler, Roland Wyman, Gil Alligood and Gerald Seighman are running for council seats. Councilman Larry Beeman is not seeking re-election.
The mayor and council members serve two-year terms.
Five people are seeking the mayor’s seat in Belhaven this election cycle, but Adam O’Neal, the current mayor is not one of them.
Ricky Credle and Greg Satterthwaite, current members of the Belhaven Board of Aldermen, are seeking to replace O’Neal, as are Elola T. Moore, Arthur Bonner and Edith C. Guy.
Incumbent Yvonne DeRuiz filed for re-election as alderwoman for the town’s East End district. Also seeking to represent the East End district seat held by DeRuiz is Ricky Radcliffe. Running for the West End district seat on the board is Jay Wilkins. One East End seat and one West End seat are available this election cycle.
Mary F. Cox is the lone candidate to complete the unexpired term of Charles O. Boyette, who died while in office. That term ends in 2019. After Boyette died, Steven Carawan was appointed to the seat held by Boyette. Carawan did not file as a candidate in the special election for that seat or in the general election for a four-year term available the board this election cycle.
The Belhaven mayor serves a two-year term.
There are two contested races in Chocowinity.
Mayor Jimmy Mobley faces a challenge to his re-election bid from Curt Jenkins, who is in the middle of his first four-year term on that town’s Board of Commissioners.
Incumbents Louise Furman and William J. Albritton have filed for re-election. Two of the four seats on the town’s board are available this election cycle. Elizabeth A. Ange is seeking a seat on the board. The mayor and commissioners serve four-year terms.
Kellie Harris Hopkins, Beaufort County’s elections director, and others on the Board of Elections staff breathed a sigh of relief when Lee Bowen, an incumbent on the Washington Park Board of Commissioners, literally filed at the last minute for re-election. If Bowen had not filed by the time the filing period ended at noon Friday, the Board of Elections faced having to extend the filing period for the Washington Park Board of Commissioners election, according to Hopkins. All five seats on that board are available this election cycle.
Washington Park Mayor Tom Richter is seeking re-election, as are the four other incumbents on the Board of Commissioners — Belinda Cowell, Wade Dale, Patrick Nash and Jeff Peacock.
Aurora Mayor Clif Williams and incumbent Board of Commissioners members Patricia Bragg and Raleigh B. Lee are seeking re-election. Jeff Peed is seeking a seat on the board. Two seats on the town’s board are available this election cycle.
In an uncontested election, Patricia Duffer is seeking re-election to the Bath Board of Commissioners. The seat once held by Jay Hardin, who died earlier this year, is available this election cycle. David C. Johnson is seeking the other available seat on the board. The other seats on the board and the Bath mayor’s seat will be available in 2019.
In another uncontested election, Pantego Mayor Stuart Ricks is seeking re-election, as are incumbent Board of Commissioners members Mart Benson, Chuck Williams, Chad Keech, Robert W. Lilley and Reid Gelderman. The mayor and commissioners serve two-year terms.