Many pundits are already focusing on 2012 and the race for the White House, but 2011 is also an election year.

The filing period for candidates in most of Beaufort County’s municipal elections begins at noon July 1.

The filing period ends at noon July 15.

This filing period applies to candidates for city or town seats in Bath, Aurora, Pantego, Washington and Chocowinity.

The filing period for Belhaven candidates starts at noon July 25 and ends at noon Aug. 12.

“This difference is due to the federal census that was held last calendar year,” reads a news release from the Beaufort County Board of Elections.

Candidates for these offices are required to pay a $10 filing fee.

Mayors, council members or commissioners in Pantego, Washington and Washington Park will face election this year.

All officeholders in these municipalities serve two-year terms and were elected or re-elected in 2009.

In Aurora, the mayor and four commissioners serve four-year, staggered terms.

The Aurora seats up this year are those held by Commissioners George Jones and Mike Patterson.

In Bath, the mayor and four commissioners also serve four-year, staggered terms.

This year, Bath Mayor Jimmy Latham and Commissioners Rob Jenner and John A. Taylor are up for re-election.

In Belhaven, the mayor serves a two-year term while town council members serve four-year, staggered terms.

Up this year are the seats held by Mayor Adam O’Neal and Councilmen J. Nelson Guy, Mac Pigott and Robert L. Stanley.

In Chocowinity, the mayor and commissioners serve four-year, staggered terms.

Up this year are Commissioners M.L. Dunbar and Arlene D. Jones.

According to Anita Bullock Branch, Beaufort County’s deputy elections director, few people have expressed interest in filing for any of the above-listed offices so far.

At least one political figure has publicly expressed an interest in the upcoming municipal elections: Beaufort County Commissioner Hood Richardson.

For a time, Richardson, a self-described conservative Republican, displayed a sign in his Market Street office window urging like-minded municipal candidates to come forward.

The commissioner said two groups, the Conservative Republican Club and the Beaufort Patriot Tea Party, were undertaking recruitment efforts.

To date, the groups have managed to identify three possible city council candidates, he said.

Richardson declined to name the possible candidates, saying he’d prefer the office-seekers make their own announcements.

“We’re trying to recruit people that will look at the budget of the city in a conservative way,” Richardson said, adding it is hoped these candidates will also help eradicate Washington’s drug problem.