LAURINBURG — Earlier in the month, more than 30 people filed for the various open seats throughout the county. However, there is one town that could potentially have some issues.
East Laurinburg has three town commissioner seats up for re-election during the Nov. 5 municipal election, but only one person filed for the seat — incumbent Gail Chavis.
The town will rely on write-ins for the other two seats, which are currently held by Tyresa Haywood and Donald “Wayne” Caulder, neither of whom filed for re-election.
“If a person is written in and they win the seat, they have the right to take the oath of office and the seat will be theirs,” said Board of Elections Director Dell Parker. “If the write-in decides they do not want the seat, they just do not take the oath of office and then the current officeholder would holdover.”
Parker explained that, if the latter happens, the current officeholder would continue to hold the seat and potentially could be there for the full-term.
For East Laurinburg, the terms are only two years for town commissioner. If the current officeholder were to stay in the seat due to no write-ins, they could resign and create a vacancy on the board.
During the 2017 elections for East Laurinburg, there were three candidates on the ballot, but the town also had 15 miscellaneous write-in votes. It is possible that the two could announce their desire to run and be written in during the elections — the current Mayor Marshall Stevens announced his desire to enter the mayoral race a week before the election and won with 26 votes. Joni Waterford Giles also filed and received 10 votes.
The municipal election will be held on Nov. 5 from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with One-Stop Early Voting starting on Oct. 16 and running to Nov. 1 from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays.
Starting Oct. 6, voters can request mail-in absentee ballots with the last day being Oct. 29. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by 5 p.m. on Nov. 5 and received in the elections office by 5 p.m. on Nov. 8.
In order to vote in the election, residents must register by Oct. 11. A photo ID is not required during this election.
Reach Katelin Gandee at 910-506-3171 or at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com
