By Peter Vankevich
Only two people have filed to run for election in Hyde County in next year’s primary, according to Viola Williams, Hyde County’s elections office director.
Both incumbent Hyde County commissioners, John Fletcher (Ocracoke) and Earl Pugh Jr. (Lake Landing) have filed for re-election. No challengers have filed.
The candidate filing period began at noon on Tuesday, Dec. 1, and runs until noon, Dec. 21. Anyone planning to run for a seat next year will need to file during this time period.
In addition to these two commissioners’ seats open, the other seats up for reelection include two on the Board of Education, two on the Ocracoke Sanitary Board, two on the Swan Quarter Sanitary Board and two on the Engelhard Sanitary Board. No candidates have filed for these latter positions.
In 2012, Fletcher, a Democrat, beat incumbent Commissioner Darlene Styron in the May primary. Commissioner elections are county-wide, and Fletcher won with 606 votes to 489. Styron carried Ocracoke 146 to 121. He was unopposed in the November election.
In Dare County, Warren Judge, is giving up his seat on the Dare County Board of Commissioners to seek the Democratic Party nomination for North Carolina House District 6, currently held by Paul Tine (U-Kitty Hawk) . Judy Krahenbuhl Justice, a Democrat, and Ashley Woolard of Beaufort County, a Republican, have also filed for Tine’s seat.
Tine recently announced that he would not seek re-election. House District 6 is made up of Dare County, Hyde County, Washington County and part of Beaufort County.
Allen Burrus, Dare County Commissioner for District 4, which includes Hatteras Village, will not seek re-election. He has represented the district for nine years.
Danny Couch, chairman of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum and who is on the county’s Board of Education, announced recently he would run as a Democrat. Scott White, a businessman from Rodanthe, will run as a Republican.
Next year’s statewide primary election will be Tuesday, March 15, instead of in May.
For more information on the election process, contact the Elections Office from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at (252) 926-4194.
By email: vwilliams@hydecountync.gov
The Observer will print more information on the primary ballot candidates closer to the election.
