By Becky Long
Publisher
The deadline to register to vote in or update your address or party affiliation for the March 5 primary is 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9 at the Clay County Board of Elections office.
Voters registration is conducted at the BOE Office, 75 Riverside Circle Suite 3, Hayesville. The phone number is 389-8431.
As of Feb. 6 registration stood at 9,858. This number includes:
• Republicans - 4,803
• Democrats - 1,390
• Unaffiliated - 3,602
• Libertarian - 61
• Two in the no label parties.
The single local race with competition will be on the Republican ballot among four candidates vying for two seats on the five-member school board.
Incumbents Danny Jones and Reba Beck are running for another four-year term. They are joined in the race by candidates Josh Ashe and Jeanine Craig who are seeking election to their first term on the school board.
The three incumbent commissioners, Rob Peck, Randy Nichols and Dwight Penland are not facing opposition from the Republican nor Democratic Parties. They appear to be the lone commission candidates in the Nov. 5 general election and will likely sail back into office.
The only door open to more competition in any race is to run as an unaffiliated candidate, but time will be an issue for those seeking office by petitioning to get on the November ballot.
Unaffiliated candidates must request a petition form from the Board of Elections and return it with 4 percent of registered voters’ signatures by noon on March 5, according to BOE Director Rebecca Hall. That’s about 394 signatures that also must be verified by the BOE officials.
In the meantime, voters won’t have to wait long to cast their ballots. Early voting opens Thursday, Feb. 15 and continues through Saturday, March 2. Weekday hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Early voting is conducted at the BOE office. Voting for the March 5 primary is at the precincts.
New this year will be the voter ID requirement. The ID will be checked to be sure there is a reasonable resemblance to you and that the name is the same or substantially equivalent, according to the BOE website. The address on your ID doesn’t have to match the ID on your voting record.
If you do not have a valid photo ID card, you may obtain one from your county board of elections prior to the election, through the end of the early voting period.
If voting by mail, you must include a photocopy of a valid photo ID when returning your ballot. You may also complete the AbsenteePhoto ID Exception Form that is provided with your absentee ballot materials.
Deadline to request an absentee ballot is 5 p.m. Feb. 27 and the deadline to return a voted absentee ballot is 7:30 p.m. March 5 at the BOE office.
In the primary, voters will receive the ballot that correlates to the party of which they are registered. Unaffiliated voters can choose either Democrat, Republican or Libertarian ballot, but may only choose one.
The primary is Tuesday, March 5. The polls will be open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Hall noted that voter lines are longest early in the morning and after 5 p.m.