The deadline for filing as a candidate in North Carolina for the 2016 election cycle ends at noon today, and in recent days the fields in several races have grown.

The filing period began at noon Dec. 1.

Locally, at least five Republican candidates for the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners will face each other in a primary to determine the four GOP nominees. The five candidates who have filed so far include incumbents Gary Brinn and Hood Richardson. Don Cox, Derik Davis and Jerry Evans round out the GOP field.

Four seats on the board are available in the 2016 election cycle. Commissioners serve four-year, staggered terms.

There likely will be no primary for Democrats seeking seats on the Board of Commissioners. Incumbents Jerry Langley and Robert Belcher are seeking re-election. Greg Satterthwaite is seeking a seat on the board. They will face the Republican nominees in the general election in November.

Beaufort County School Board members Eltha Booth (District 1), Barbara Boyd-Williams (District 3), F. Mac Hodges, (District 5), Carolyn S. Walker (District 7) and Mike Isbell (District 9) have filed for re-election. Terry W. Draper filed as a candidate for the District 9 seat on the school board, which is nonpartisan. On Friday, Kate A. Phelps filed as a candidate for the District 3 seat on the board.

Board members serve four-year, staggered terms. There is no primary for school-board members, who are elected in the during the general election next fall.

Among others filing for office since Dec. 1 were Judy Justice, a Dare County Democrat, and Warren Judge, a Dare County commissioner and a Democrat. Each seeks the 6^th District seat in the N.C. House of Representatives now held by Paul Tine, an unaffiliated legislator who is not seeking re-election. Washington resident Ashley Woolard, a Republican, also filed for the District 6 seat. The district includes part of Beaufort County and all of Dare and Washington counties.

As of Friday, Michael Speciale, the Republican who represents District 3 in the N.C. House of Representatives, is unopposed in his re-election bid. District 3 includes parts of Beaufort and Craven counties and all of Pamlico County.

Warren Judge and Judy Justice, Democrats from Dare County, will face each other in the primary to determine the Democratic nominee to represent District 6 in the N.C. House of Representatives. The winner of that primary faces Republican Ashley Woolard, a Washington resident, in the general election. District 6 includes part of Beaufort County and all of Washington, Dare and Hyde counties.

Republican Bill Cook, who represents District 1 in the N.C. Senate, faces a challenge from Democrat Brownie Futrell in the general election. Both candidates live in Beaufort County, which is part of District 1, which also includes Dare, Hyde, Currituck, Camden, Pasquotank, Perquimans and Gates counties.

Republicans Walter B. Jones Jr., Phil Law and Taylor Griffin will face one another in a primary to determine the GOP nominee to represent the state’s 3^rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Jones, the incumbent, is seeking an 11^th term in Congress. The winner of that GOP primary faces Democrat David Hurst in the general election. Hurst filed Thursday.

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield Jr., a Democrat, is unopposed in his re-election bid in the state’s 1^st Congressional District.

Jennifer Leggett Whitehurst, the incumbent register of deeds in Beaufort County, has filed for re-election.

Michael A. Paul and Chris McLendon are seeking re-election as district court judges in the 2^nd Judicial District.

Races for U.S. Senate, governor and Council of State and General Assembly seats are on the ballot. There are also elections for Congress, state judgeships and scores of county positions. The U.S. presidential election also takes place in 2016.

The filing period for candidates seeking seats on a county’s soil-and-water conservation board begins at noon June 13, 2016, and ends at noon July 1, 2016.