By Tim Gardner
National, state, and local offices will be on the ballot across North Carolina for a highly-anticipated 2024 election, and it all begins soon, as candidates will begin submitting the required paperwork to launch their campaigns.
In North Carolina, candidate filing starts at 12:00 noon on Monday, December 4, and ends at 12:00 noon on Friday, December 15.
The 2024 Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, March 5, when voters will start by selecting candidates who file for United States President and Congress.
Neither of North Carolina’s United States Senators, Republicans Ted Budd and Thom Tillis, face elections this year. Tillis’ seat won’t be open again until 2026. Budd’s seat won’t be open until 2028.
Republican United States Congressman Chuck Edwards (Republican, Henderson County) has indicated that he’ll seek a second term in District 11. Republican Christian Reagan (Clay County) said he will also run for the seat. Democrat (Buncombe County) Caleb Rudow has also declared his intent to run for the seat.
Avery County was previously in United States Congressional District 11, then was reassigned to District 5, and the entire county was moved back to District 11 by vote of the North Carolina General Assembly (House and Senate), starting with the 2024 election. That means that parts of the county will not be in one district while other parts would be in another.
The new District 11 includes the following counties: Avery, Mitchell, Yancey, Madison, Buncombe, Haywood, Swain, Jackson, McDowell, Henderson, Transylvania, Graham, Macon, Cherokee, Clay, and parts of Polk.
As a result of the district change, Avery County will no longer be represented by United States Congresswoman, Republican Virginia Foxx, who also faces re-election in District 5.
On the state level, candidates will file for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and Commissioners of Agriculture, Insurance, and Labor. Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction and State Auditor candidates will also run. Additionally, the Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court (Seat 6) will be open for candidates to run for as will three seats (4, 5, and 15) on the fifteen-member State Court of Appeals.
In the North Carolina General Assembly, the Senate District 47 seat, currently held by Ralph Hise (Republican, Mitchell County), will be open in 2024.
Counties that make up the State Senate, District 47, also approved by the General Assembly, currently include: Avery, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Mitchell, Yancey, Madison, and parts of Caldwell.
Voters will also decide three District Judgeships and one Superior Court Judgeship in District 35, which consists of Avery, Watauga, Mitchell, Yancey, and Madison counties.
Current Superior Court Judge Greg Horne’s seat is open in 2024, as are those of District Court Judges Rebecca Eggers-Gryder, Hal Harrison, and Ted McEntire.
Horne, Eggers-Gryder, Harrison, and McEntire are all Republicans.
There are a total of two Superior Court judges and four district court judges who serve District 35.
Three seats on the Avery County Board of Commissioners, currently occupied by Republicans Martha Hicks, Tim Phillips, and Dennis Aldridge will be on the ballot. Hicks has announced that she will not seek re-election after serving 16 years as a commissioner. Much of that time she has served as the commission’s chairwoman. However, she said she will ask her fellow-commissioners not to consider her to remain chairwoman or to serve as vice-chairwoman when they conduct their yearly vote for commission officers during their regular monthly meeting on December 4.
Three seats will also be open on the Avery County Board of Education and three new members will be elected as two incumbents—chairman John Greene and Kathey Aldridge have declared that they will not seek re-election. The third board seat has been vacant since June 2022 when Ruth Shirley resigned.
As with the county commission, there are normally five Board of Education members and votes have been taken among current Board members to appoint Steve Smith or Linda Webb to fill the remainder of Shirley’s term, which is set to expire in 2024. However, the Board members have been deadlocked about either Smith or Webb filling the vacancy.
Smith is a former Board member and Webb was a candidate in the 2022 Board of Education election. Webb finished third in the election behind then first-time candidate Randy Singleton and incumbent Pat Edwards in an effort to win one of the then-two open seats.
Appointing Smith or Webb to fill the vacancy must be by a 3-1 majority or a unanimous (4-0) vote among current Board of Education members. But a 2-2 vote has remained each time one has been taken with Greene and Aldridge voting for Smith and Edwards and Singleton voting for Webb.
Therefore, the seat will remain vacant unless a majority (three) or all four (a unanimous vote) of the current Board members agree to appoint Smith, Webb, or another person, or until a candidate is elected in the March 2024 Primary Election. If anyone is appointed to fill the current vacant seat before the election, it would only be until then, as that person would have to run in the election if he or she desired to try to retain the seat.
Smith and Webb can also run as candidates for the Board of Education in the March election.
Unlike other elections, a Board of Education race in North Carolina is non-partisan, meaning that candidates do not run with by any political party affiliation and those who win in a primary election are automatically elected and do not have to run in the General Election later the same year. There are also no run-off or second primary elections in a North Carolina Board of Education race, meaning that a candidate does not have to obtain a certain percentage of the vote to win. If a candidate only wins the Primary Election by one vote, he or she will serve on the Board.
The Register of Deeds seat will also be open. It’s currently held by Erin Grindstaff English, who was appointed to the post by the Avery County Republican (GOP) Executive Committee when former Register of Deeds Renee Dellinger retired on March 31, 2023.
English was an Assistant Register of Deeds in Avery County at the time of her promotion to Register of Deeds after having previously served as a Deputy Register of Deeds.
Filing fees for local Avery County offices are: Register of Deeds $597.00; County Commissioner $76.00; and Board of Education $36.00.
A complete list of filing fees for all North Carolina offices may be obtained by logging onto this State Board of Elections page: ncsbe.gov/candidates/filing-candidacy/filing-fees
The deadline to register to vote in the 2024 Primary Election is Friday, February 9.
Although the Primary Election isn’t until March 5, voting begins nearly two months prior. On Friday, January 12, 2024, county boards of elections will begin mailing absentee ballots to eligible voters who requested them.
Absentee ballots must be returned no later than 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
In-person early voting begins on Thursday, February 15 and ends on Saturday, March 2.
Registration and absentee ballot deadlines are different for military and overseas voters. Specific instructions about each can be obtained by contacting the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
The General Election will be held on Tuesday, November 5.
For more information on registering to vote, running for office, actual voting, or to view previous election results, log on to the NCSBE website at ncsbe.gov or call your local Board of Elections office. Voters in Avery County can contact their Board of Elections office by phone at: (828) 733-8282.
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