Being the early bird didn’t exactly help state senator Amy Scott Galey secure the proverbial worm on Monday when candidate registration for next year’s elections officially began across North Carolina.
Galey was literally camped out in a canvas folding chair outside of Alamance County’s elections office about half an hour before the state’s 12-day registration period formally kicked off at 12:00 noon.
But the incumbent state senator’s foresight was utterly undermined at 11:39 a.m. when state elections officials announced a delay in registration for legislative and congressional candidates due to a legal challenge to the state’s latest redistricting maps.
The Court of Appeals issued an order Monday morning that suspended the filings for Congress, as well as for state house and state senate legislative districts across the state.
Galey nevertheless hung around after the state’s 11th hour postponement to mingle with some of the other Republican incumbents who were in line behind her before filing began. Among these early arrivals were county commissioners Craig Turner and Steve Carter; sheriff Terry Johnson; and Meredith Edwards, the county’s clerk of superior court.
Also filing later in the morning was Republican Robert Turner, who is running for a seat on the board of county commissioners, ensuring a primary among the two Turners (Craig and Robert) and Carter.
Also filing for re-election was district attorney Sean Boone, another Republican.
The only candidate filing for one of three seats on the non-partisan school board was Chuck Marsh.
[Editor’s Note: UPDATE: The original Mon. morning decision was by a panel of three Court of Appeals judges who ordered the filing halted. By evening, the full 15-member Court of Appeals reversed that decision and restored filing, which will resume for Congressional and legislative seats on Tuesday.]
