Candidates crowd Elections Office on last day to file

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 1, 2009

By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
The Rowan County Board of Elections office was a happenin’ place Friday morning.
Ten candidates filed as the deadline for municipal elections passed at noon.
“For some reason, that’s the way it always is,” said Nancy Evans, director of the board of elections. “We get a lot of people who file the first day (of the filing period) and a lot who file the last. Not as many on the days in between.”
The filing period involved more than 40 municipal posts in 10 local municipalities.
Evans said there are a couple of theories ó none scientifically proven ó concerning why there’s more activity at the board of elections on the first and last days of the filing period.
One theory is that candidates file the first day so others will know from the get-go that there’s someone interested in the job. There’s another theory that some wait until the last minute because they don’t want to play their hands too early in the filing process.
Others wait until the last day to see who their competition will be and decide if they want to toss their hats in the ring.
“They say, ‘OK, I’ll throw my name in, too,’ ” Evans said.
Candidates and the positions they’re seeking follow:
– China Grove, three seats on the board of aldermen: Butch Bivens, Linn Brandon, Charles Seaford, Mike Upright and Don Webb.
– Cleveland mayor: Aubrey H. Junker Jr. and John I. Steele Jr.; three commissioner seats: John O. Brown, Danny Gabriel, Pat Phifer, Travis Summitt, Leonard M. West and W. Preston Young.
– East Spencer mayor: John Cowan and Barbara A. Mallett; two aldermen seats: Rosa Burris, Tammy L. Corpening, Deloris V. High, Phronice M. Johnson, Titus H. King Sr. and John L. Rustin Sr.
– Faith’s five positions on the board of aldermen: Keith Deal, Gary Gardner, Bill Johnson, Todd Peeler, Maxey Sanderson and Mark Shores.
– Granite Quarry’s aldermen seats: Brad Kluttz and Eloise Peeler.
– Kannapolis mayor: Bill Nickolas Georgiou and Bob Misenheimer; and three council seats: Randy e. Cauthen, Milton Darrell Hinnant, Gene McCombs and Michael Mishkin.
– Landis, two aldermen seats: William P. Beaver, James Furr, Charlene A. Nolt and D. Craig Sloop.
– Rockwell mayor: Beau Taylor; and five aldermen seats: Chuck Bowman, Timothy Justin Crews, Tim Draper, Eric Moore, Bill Ridenhour and Charles Wingerson.
– Salisbury, five seats on the council: Charles A. Black, Maggie Blackwell, Carl C. Dangerfield, Blake Jarman, Benjamin Johnson, William “Pete” Kennedy, Susan Wear Kluttz, Mark N. Lewis, Brian Miller, William C. Peoples Jr., Wes Thompson, Paul Bernhardt Woodson Jr. and Michael S. Young.
– Spencer mayor: Jody Everhart and Jon E. Palmer; and six aldermen seats: Tracy Aitken, Scott Benfield, Delaine Fowler, Donnie Hinson, Jeff Kiker, Jeff Morris, David H. Smith, C.E. Spear and Reid Walters.