Less than a month removed from 2019’s municipal election results, Sampson County is gearing up for candidate filing for the 2020 General Election, which kicks off at the beginning of next week.
Filing for most 2020 contests begins at noon this Monday, Dec. 2, and extends until noon Friday, Dec. 20. That is the case for local Sampson County elections for next year, which will include two Sampson County commissioner seats, three Sampson County Schools Board of Education seats, three seats on the Clinton City Schools Board of Education and a contest for the Sampson County Register of Deeds.
The general election, coinciding with the Presidential Election, will be held Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.
To determine the nominee for certain contests, there is a primary election on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. For non-partisan races, city and county school boards, the March 3 primary date will be when those posts are decided.
A bill passed in the N.C. Legislature years ago outlined that even-year primary elections would be held in early March starting in 2020, leading to the December filing, which still leaves just three months for school board campaigns.
According to Board of Elections director Emily DeVane, there will be three school board vacancies up for grabs in both the city and county, including county posts held by Tim Register, Tracy Dunn and Patrick Usher and city posts held by chairperson Dr. Linda Brunson, vice-chairperson Mike Lanier and Jason Walters.
DeVane noted that the two members appointed this year, which include Clark Hales and Russ Emanuel, are fulfilling the remainder of terms “and will not have to run until 2022.” The Clinton City Schools website lists their terms, along with those of Lanier, Brunson and Walters, as expiring on June 30, 2020. Carol Worley is the only exception. Her term expires in June 2022, according to the city schools site.
Georgina Zeng resigned in October, with Hales taking her place. She was elected last year, so the term wasn’t set to expire until June 30, 2022. Emanuel is in a similar situation. He was chosen earlier this year to replace Stuart Blount, who also stepped down. Blount, elected at the same time as Worley and Zeng in 2018, was set for a four-year term extending until June 2022, which is now Emanuel’s term.
Brunson is yet another appointee. She was appointed in early 2018 to fill the seat left vacant with the death of E.R. Mason.
The county commissioners seats vacant in 2020 include District 2, held by Jerol Kivett, a Republican, and District 4, held by Democrat Harry Parker. Kivett is expected to file Monday to retain his seat.
Also anticipated to file Monday will be Anita Lane, who announced back in March 2019 that she would be seeking the Register of Deeds position. Lane spent 13 years working in the Register of Deeds office, 12 of them as assistant register under both Republican Paulette King and Democrat Eleanor Bradshaw, who stepped down from the Register post in August.
Freddie Butler’s was selected by the local Democrat Party and subsequently appointed to the post by the Sampson Board of Commissioners, essentially a formality as required by law for unexpired terms, as in Bradshaw’s case. Bradshaw was serving her third term as register, a post she held since 2008.
The unexpired term, now filled by Butler, expires November 2020.
In May of 2018, Lane was hired as the senior planner for Sampson County. Before working for the Register of Deeds office, Lane worked with the Farm Service Agency for seven years.