JANUARY 28, 2010 ISSUE
The Races Are On
Filing for Local, State and Federal Offices Begins February 8
Both Watauga and Avery county boards of elections are prepared to accept official candidate’s filings for the upcoming elections starting at noon on Monday, February 8, and continuing through Friday, February 26.
In Watauga County, candidates can file for three county commission district seats, three school board seats, two soil and water conservation positions, clerk of court and sheriff.
Avery County seats are open for sheriff, clerk of court, three county commissioners and two positions for the board of education.
Candidates for district-wide state seats, the N.C. Senate and N.C. House of Representatives will file in their resident counties. Candidates for district attorneys, judges and U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives file at the state board of elections in Raleigh.
Primary elections will take place on May 4, with run-offs scheduled for June 22. The election is on November 2.
Candidate Filing Requirements
According to the North Carolina Board of Elections, all notices of candidacy for governor, lieutenant governor, state executive offices, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and district attorneys, together with the proper filing fee, must be in the possession of the N.C. Board of Elections by the required date to be accepted.
According to the North Carolina Board of Elections, all notices of candidacy for state senate, state House of Representatives and all county offices, together with the proper filing fee, must be in the possession of the respective county’s board of elections by the required date to be accepted.
The N.C. Board of Elections stated the required filing period as “no earlier than 12:00 p.m. on the second Monday in February and no later than 12:00 p.m. on the last business day in February preceding the primary.”
According to the N.C. Board of Elections, all notices of candidacy arriving after noon on February 26 cannot be accepted. The filing fee must be paid with individual check or money order, payable to the “State Board of Elections” or to the respective county’s board of elections. Business or corporate checks are not acceptable.
The notice of candidacy must be signed in the presence of the chairman or executive director of the N.C. Board of Elections or a candidate can have his or her signature on the notice of candidacy acknowledged and certified by any officer authorized to administer an oath—see N.C. G.S. §163-106. In signing his or her notice of candidacy, the candidate may use a nickname, provided the candidate complies with the requirement specified in G.S. §163-106 and G.S. §163-323(a).
No person shall be permitted to file as a candidate of any political party in a party primary when such person, at the time of filing his or her notice of candidacy, is registered on the registration record as an affiliate of a different political party from that party in whose primary he or she is now attempting to file as a candidate. No person registered as “unaffiliated” or without any party affiliation recorded shall be eligible to file as a candidate in a primary. No person who has changed his or her political party affiliation, as permitted in G.S. §163-82.17, shall be permitted to file as a candidate in the primary of the party to which he or she changed, unless he or she has been affiliated with the political party in which he or she seeks to be a candidate for at least 90 days prior to the filing date for the office for which he or she desires to file his or her notice of candidacy.
Within 10 days of filing, candidates for legislative offices must file a statement of economic interest with their respective county’s board of elections.
For more information, click to www.sboe.state.nc.us, www.wataugacounty.org/elections/ or www.averycountync.gov/boardOfElections.htm.
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