Filing to reopen for school board seat

By Carey Phillips

Filing will open at noon Friday, July 19, and close at noon Friday, July 26. Since the U.S. Justice Department has approved new legislative districts, it is likely the same period to be set for legislative filing, election officials say.

The primary, which has been delayed since May 7 by a prolonged court battle, has been set for Tuesday, Sept. 10. The school board election will be held at the same time.

The new school board filing period was set Tuesday morning at an emergency meeting of the Jackson County Board of Elections. State law requires filing be reopened "immediately" for five days when a candidate for a non-partisan school board seat dies prior to an election and the ballot has not been printed, said elections board member Tom Jones.

"I hope the Queen family will understand why we are taking this action now," Jones said. "We really didn't want to do it at this time, but the statute mandates it."

The school board election was to have been held in conjunction with the primary; new members were to have taken office this month.

Gene Robinson, former Webster Enterprises director, is the only other candidate to have declared for the District 2 seat during the original filing period. District 2 includes the North Sylva and Scotts Creek I, II and III precincts. Voting is countywide, but candidates must live in the district they represent. In the interim, current school board members have the power to appoint a replacement from District 2.

"The board can replace (Queen), but I will leave that up to them this close to the election," said Paul Holt, school board attorney. "They can elect a new chairman to serve until the new people take over or they can leave the chairmanship open and let (James) Roper continue to preside as vice chairman."

An emergency meeting of the N.C. Board of Elections was planned Wednesday in Raleigh to finalize primary plans, including dates for absentee voting.

The Legislature set the Sept. 10 primary date earlier this week. No runoffs are planned since the primary will be held less than two months before the general election.

Typically, a second-place candidate is entitled to call for a runoff if the leading vote-getter in a primary does not garner 40 percent of the vote. Under this year's rules, primary winners will automatically advance to November's election regardless of their vote total.

The primary was put on hold after state Republicans filed suit over legislative redistricting plans approved earlier this year by the General Assembly. Johnston County Superior Court Judge Knox Jenkins ruled the plans unconstitutional because too many counties were divided; the N.C. Supreme Court agreed.

The Legislature approved new plans, but Jenkins revised them into the current plans, which received Justice Department approval this week.

The new plans put all of Jackson and Swain counties in the 119th House District, along with portions of Haywood and Macon counties.

Jackson, Macon, Swain, Cherokee, Transylvania and Clay counties make up the 50th Senate District, along with part of Haywood County.

Back to Archive: 07/18/02.