Time line established for primary election

By Carey Phillips

The primary, originally slated for May 7, will be held Tuesday, Sept. 10. It was postponed due to a court battle over legislative redistricting.

With new legislative districts in place, a new filing period is being held for seats in the General Assembly. It opened at 8 a.m. Friday, July 19, and will close at 5 p.m. Friday, July 26.

Sen. Dan Robinson of Cullowhee and Rep. Phil Haire of Sylva, both Democrats, have filed for re-election to the Legislature.

Robinson is running in the 50th Senate District, which includes all of Jackson, Macon, Swain, Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Transylvania counties and part of Macon County.

Haire is running in the 119th House District, which includes all of Jackson and Swain counties and part of Macon and Haywood counties.

The Jackson County Board of Elections has also reopened filing for the District 2 school board seat. That action came after the death of Martha Queen, an incumbent who was seeking re-election. The filling will close at noon Friday, July 26.

District 2 includes the precincts of North Sylva and Scotts Creek I, II and III.

At Herald press time, three new candidates had filed for the school board with John Reid, Sarah Altman and Ken Henke throwing their hats into the ring. Gene Robinson filed for the seat in January.

The school board election will be held in conjunction with the Sept. 10 primary. Voting is countywide, but candidates must live in the district they seek to represent.

Voter registration for the primary will close Friday, Aug. 16.

That's the same day applications may start for absentee ballots, which will be mailed out. Applications may be made in person by a near relative or by mail. Those ballots must be returned by 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9.

One-stop voting at the board of elections office will begin Thursday, Aug. 22, and continue until 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7.

Any registered voter may cast ballots early through the absentee or one-stop process.

For more information, call the board of elections at 586-7538.

The committee plans to work on the program at its mid-August meeting and present it to the town board at a later public hearing.

Back to Archive: 07/25/02.