Busy filing period expected

Published 4:33 pm Friday, February 7, 2014

The filing period for candidates seeking Congressional, N.C. General Assembly and county government seats begins at noon Monday.

The filing period ends at noon Feb. 28.

Kellie Harris Hopkins, elections director for Beaufort County, expects a busy filing season.

“That anticipation is based on us having a record number of campaign-finance accounts that have been opened prior to filing. That, in itself, is a very good indication that those folks will be in here on Monday,” Hopkins said Friday morning.

Hopkins reminds candidates there’s more to running for office than just filing to run.

Candidates have campaign-related requirements they must meet within days after announcing their candidacies. Once a candidate publicly announces he or she is seeking an elected office, he or she is required to submit campaign-finance paperwork, which sets up his or her account to allow reporting of campaign spending and other financial matters.

In Beaufort County, voters will elect a sheriff, county commissioners, a clerk of court, school-board members and other officials this election cycle. Voters will also elect members of the N.C. General Assembly and members of Congress in the general elections.

The filing fees for specific offices follow:

• Clerk of court, $834;

• Sheriff, $958;

• County commissioner, $152;

• School board member, $31;

• Soil and Water Conservation Board member, $5 (filing period begins at noon June 9 ends at noon July 7.)

• U.S. senator or representative, $1,740;

• State senator or representative, $207;

• Justice, N.C. Supreme Court, $`1,426;

• Judge, N.C. Court of Appeals, $1.389;

• Superior Court judge, $1,299;

• District Court judge, $1,107;

• District attorney, $1,207.

Primaries are set for May 6. Early voting for the primaries begins April 24 and ends May 3. The general election is set for Nov. 4, with early voting in the general election beginning Oct. 23 and ending Nov. 1.

Any candidate or person considering becoming a candidate who has questions about election-related matters should call the Beaufort County Board of Elections at 946-2321 or visit the office at 1308 Highland Drive, Suite 104, Washington.

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.

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