East Laurinburg ballot to be sparse for 2021 election

LAURINBURG — Despite having the filing deadline for the upcoming municipal election extended by the Scotland County Board of Elections, no additional candidates filed for seats on the East Laurinburg Board of Commissioners.

That leaves the mayor’s post and two commissioner seats without candidates on the ballot.

“Therefore, the two commissioner seats and the mayor’s seat will be filled using the write-in lines,” said Dell Parker, director of the BOE.

When the regular filing deadline came and went last week, the BOE extended the deadline by five days because it was reported that there were two potential candidates who wanted to file — one for mayor and one for commissioner — but both were unable to get to the BOE with their paperwork because they had COVID-19.

As it now stands, only Tyresa Haywood will be on the ballot for a seat on the town of East Laurinburg Board of Commissioners.

The filing period for the towns of Wagram, Gibson and Maxton came to a close on Friday last week. Those who filed their paperwork for seats in the upcoming municipal election were:

— Gwen Arrigon filed for the Gibson mayor’s seat

— Annie Chavis Taylor filed for the Gibson mayor’s seat

— Eric Stubbs filed for a Gibson commissioner seat.

— Howard Chavis filed for the Gibson Board of Commissioners

— Adam Lyles filed for the Gibson Board of Commissioners

— Barbara McRae Pierce filed for the mayor’s post in the town of Wagram

— Hyder Massey Jr. filed for a seat as commissioner in the town of Wagram

— Lori Reynolds filed for a seat on the Wagram Board of Commissioners

— Robert McLaughlin filed for a seat on the Wagram Board of Commissioners

— Marjorie Whitlock, town of Gibson Board of Commissioners

— Greg Leech, town of Gibson Board of Commissioners

— Virgil L. Hutchinson, town of Maxton Board of Commissioners

— Emmett (Chip) Morton, town of Maxton Board of Commissioners

— Victor R. Womack Sr., town of Maxton Board of Commissioners

— George Purcell, town of Wagram mayor

For the city of Laurinburg, Senate Bill 722 has postponed the city’s election until March 2022, which moved the candidate filing date until December.

W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or [email protected].