02/12/08 — Election filing period begins

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Election filing period begins

By Matthew Whittle
Published in News on February 12, 2008 2:09 PM

With filing for the May 6 primaries opening at noon Monday, the Wayne County Board of Elections was prepared for an onrush of people making their candidacies official.

And, while there wasn't an overwhelming number signing up for the multiple county and state contests, county elections director Vickie Reed said Monday evening that the day had been fairly hectic.

"We've been busy," she said. "But there were no problems. Things went very smoothly. I hope it'll get busier."

Up for election this year in Wayne County are all seven county commission seats; the at-large, District 2 and District 3 school board seats; the county register of deeds; state House District 10; state House District 11; state House District 21; state Senate District 5; state Senate District 12; all the state administrative seats including governor and lieutenant governor; several state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals seats; the District 8B Superior Court judge seat and five District 8 District Court judge seats; U.S. House District 1; U.S. House District 3; one U.S. Senate seat and, of course, the presidency.

People interested in filing for any of the county seats, or the state legislative seats, can do so at the county elections office on William Street, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

"There are forms they have to fill out and we have those packets already made up for them. The only thing they have to make sure of is that they live in the district of the office they're filing for," Ms. Reed said.

All others must file at the state elections office in Raleigh.

The filing period will end at noon on Feb. 29.

Primaries for partisan seats will be held if more than one person files from each party, with the winners meeting up in the general election in November.

Primaries for non-partisan races -- county Board of Education, county Register of Deeds and state judicial seats -- will be held only if three or more people file, with the top two vote-getters moving on.