LAURINBURG — Scotland County’s registered voters will have plenty of decisions to make between now and the March 3 primary election.
A total of 16 local candidates have thrown their hat into the ring in the hopes of earning an elected position.
That list of candidates includes:
— Rick Singletary, the incumbent chairman of the Scotland County Board of Education, out of Stewartsville Township in the nonpartisan contest..
— Incumbent Darrell “BJ” Gibson Jr., Democrat, for Board of Commissioners out of Williamson Township.
— Tony Spaulding for Board of Education out of Stewartsville Township.
— Jimmy Bennett for Board of Education at-large.
— Mollie Flowers filed for a Board of Commissioners seat out of Laurel Hill Township as a challenger. She is a Democrat.
— Board of Education incumbent Carolyn Banks filed for re-election to her at-large seat in the nonpartisan contest.
— Clarence McPhatter filed for a Scotland County Board of Commissioners seat out of Stewartsville Township.
— John T. Alford, an incumbent county commissioner out of Laurel Hill Township.
— Whit Gibson, an incumbent county commissioner at-large.
— Garland Pierce, Democrat, incumbent for State House District 48 representative.
— Bo Frizzell, Republican, for Scotland County commissioner at-large.
— Robert “Bob” Davis, incumbent Democrat, for Scotland County commissioner in Williamson Township.
— Jeffrey Shelley, Democrat, Scotland County commissioner in Williamson Township.
— L. Page Pratt III, incumbent Democrat, Scotland County Register of Deeds.
— Lester Brigman Jr., Board of Education in Stewartsville Township.
— Gary Mauk, Board of Education in Stewartsville Township.
Voters should be aware that the law requiring a photo ID was recently struck down by a federal judge, so an ID will not be required during the primary election.
Despite that, NC Attorney General Josh Stein has said he plans to appeal the federal injunction, but not for any elections held in 2020.
North Carolina remains one of 14 states not requiring photo ID in 2020.
Merging precincts
According to Dell Parker, director of the Scotland County Board of Elections, the March 3 primary election will have three precincts merged.
“The board of elections did ask the State Board of Elections for permission to merge three of our precincts,” Parker recently told county commissioners. “We did get approval for that merge to go forward (so) instead of 10 precincts in our county, we have seven.”
The seven locations are:
— Precinct 1, County Annex at 231 E Cronly St. in Laurinburg
— Precinct 2, The Learning Center at 420 Stewartsville Road in Laurinburg
— Precinct 3, Scotland Place at 1210 Turnpike Road in Laurinburg
— Precinct 4, South Fire Station at 1547 Hickory St. in Laurinburg
— Precinct 5, Gibson Fire Station at 6280 Gibson Road in Gibson
— Precinct 6, Laurel Hill Community Building at 14940 Church St. in Laurel Hill
— Precinct 7, Wagram Recreation Center at 24441 Marlboro St. in Wagram
JJ Melton can be reached at 910-506-3169 or by email at jmelton@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.
