LUMBERTON — The 2015 election season begins in earnest on Monday.
Candidates seeking a Robeson County municipal office in the Nov. 3 General Election can begin filing Monday at 8:15 a.m. at the Robeson County Board of Elections at 800 N. Walnut St. Filing will continue weekdays from 8:15 a.m.. to 5:15 p.m. through noon on July 17.
Council members will be elected in all of the county’s 15 municipalities. Mayors will be on the ballot in 13 municipalities, including Lumberton, where longtime Mayor Ray Pennington has announced he will not seek re-election. In Pembroke voters will be electing a mayor to replace the late Milton Hunt.
To be eligible to run for a municipal office, an individual must be a registered voter and have lived in the district in which he or she is running for at least 30 days.
The filing fee for mayoral and council candidates varies among municipalities.
This year two municipalities, McDonald and Proctorville, are changing the number of years for terms of both their mayors and council representatives from two to four years.
“For smaller communities it is too expensive to have to hold elections every two years,” Dinah Jo Locklear, a BOE staff member said.
According to G.L. Pridgen, the director of the county’s Board of Elections, more than 25,000 of the county’s 72,000 voters are eligible to vote in the November elections.
“We are already starting to get everything in place for the elections,” Pridgen said. “But we can only go so far until we know how many candidates file to run.”
Elections officials expect a large number of candidates to file in the early days of the period.
“It usually starts out fast and than slows down,” Pridgen said. “Near the end of the filing period filings pick up again.”
The municipalities and seats being contested, and filing fees, include the following:
— Fairmont: Three council seats, incumbents Carol Leak-McKenzie, Jeffery J. McCree and Wade Sealey; four-year terms; filing fee $15.
— Lumber Bridge: Two council seats, incumbents Alan Brunnet and Randy Russ, four-year terms; filing fee $6.
— Lumberton: Mayor, incumbent Ray Pennington, four-year term, filing fee $89; four council seats, incumbents Donald Metzger (Precinct 1), Harry L. Ivey (Precinct 4), Robert Jones (Precinct 6) and Leon Maynor (Precinct 7), all four-year terms; filing fee $74.
— Marietta: Mayor, incumbent Justin Oliver, two-year term, filing fee $5; two council seats, incumbents Walter Powell and Mae Thelma Williams, four-year terms; filing fee $5.
— McDonald: Mayor, incumbent James R. Taylor, four-year term, filing fee $5; three council seats, incumbents Dannie M. Bacot, William A. Britt and E.B. Morton, all four-year terms; filing fee $5.
— Maxton: Mayor, incumbent Sallie McLean, four-year term, filing fee $72; three council seats, incumbents Cynthia (Tiny) Johnson, Mark D. McEachin and Victor Womack, all four-year terms; filing fee $36.
— Orrum: Mayor, incumbent Jessie Stephens, two-year term, filing fee $5; four alderman seats, incumbents Dannie Anderson, Ashley Dickson, Arthur Britt and Cleo Smith, all two year terms; filing fee $5.
— Parkton: Mayor, incumbent Al McMillan, two-year term, filing fee $5; five council seats, incumbents Robin Hill, Doris Underwood, Wanda B. Matute, Benton Finley and one vacant, all two-year terms; filing fee $5.
— Pembroke: Mayor, vacant, four-year term, filing fee $48; two council seats, incumbents Ryan Sampson and Larry McNeill, four-year terms; filing fee $39.
— Proctorville: Mayor, incumbent Levie Allen Fowler, four-year term, filing fee $6; three alderman seats, incumbents Deborah Connor, Jennifer Connor and Virginia Ivey, all four-year terms; filing fee $6.
— Raynham: Mayor, incumbent Debra Lindsay Arnette, two-year term, filing fee $29; three council seats, incumbents Datry Hunt, Martha W. Parker and Kathleen Lindsay, all two-year terms; filing fee $5.
— Red Springs: Mayor, incumbent John M. McNeill, two-year term, filing fee $12.; three council seats, incumbents Robert Hollingsworth, David Shook and Duron Burney, all four-year terms; filing fee $5.
— Rennert: Mayor, incumbent Shawn Gibson, two-year unexpired term, filing fee $6; three council seats, Shirley Ashford Tolson and Vivian W. McRae, all four-year terms; filing fee $5.
— Rowland: Mayor, incumbent Doris “Betty” Hunt, two-year term, filing fee $24; two council seats, incumbents Betty J. Boyd and Allen Jean Love, both four-year terms; filing fee $15.
— St. Pauls: Mayor, incumbent M.Gordon Westbrook, four-year term, filing fee $14; two at-large council seats, Sandra Graham Cain and Gwendolin (Ghee) Johnson, both four-year terms; filing fee $9.
For information about candidate filing or any other election issue, call the Board of Elections at 910-671-3080.
