Municipal election filing period starts Friday
By Matthew Whittle
Published in News on July 1, 2007 2:01 AM
Goldsboro's incumbents may have already declared their intentions to run for re-election, but the real race for municipal seats across Wayne County will begin on Friday as the Board of Elections office opens its doors for the start of the candidate filing period.
Beginning at noon, candidates for offices in Goldsboro, Mount Olive, Pikeville, Fremont, Eureka, Seven Springs and Walnut Creek, as well as those people interested in serving in the Fork Township, Northwestern Wayne, Southern Wayne and Southwestern Wayne sanitary districts will have two weeks to throw their hats into the ring.
Filing will end at noon on Friday, July 20 -- a shorter filing period than in past years, elections director Gary Sims said.
"It appears, though, that everybody is well-informed of the change," he said, adding that he is expecting the process to proceed as usual.
"Usually the first day, a good number of the candidates will come in and try to be one of the first on the list so they can begin their election activities. Then we always have somebody come in on the last day," he said.
And with Goldsboro offices on the ballot for the first time in four years, he said, it's going to be an active election season.
"We definitely expect a much busier year than we normally have," Sims said.
Traditionally, he continued, most of the races in the county feature at least two candidates vying for each seat -- with the distinct exception of Eureka, which he said often has "nobody even filing for the seats."
The opposite situation is usually true in Goldsboro, where if more than two candidates file for a seat, they all will face off in an Oct. 9 primary.
The top two will then move onto the general election on Nov. 6.
"That actually happens very frequently," he said.
And, he added, he won't be surprised if it happens again this year.
"I've had a lot of people calling expressing a lot of interest for Goldsboro," he said. "It seems a little bit more than usual actually."
People interested in filing for one the open municipal seats can either call or visit the Wayne County Board of Elections office at 739-1411, 209 S. William St.