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Board of Elections reports growth in registrations, upcoming candidate filing window and ongoing registry repairs
Summary
Alleghany County Board of Elections reported higher registration totals, described ongoing registry repairs tied to prior litigation, outlined candidate filing deadlines and requirements for sheriff candidates, and described increased operational workload caused by protests and records requests earlier in the year.
Alleghany County Board of Elections Director Sherry Dawson told commissioners Aug. 18 that registered voters increased to about 8,073 after routine list maintenance and that the office is preparing for an early candidate-filing window beginning in December.
Dawson said the office began the year handling substantial records requests and litigation tied to the Griffin contest. She described continuing work to repair the county’s voter registry where records lacked required partial identification numbers, reducing a corrective list from 73 to 35 voters who must be contacted by the state board for remediation.
"If they don't, they will have to vote provisional in the next election if they don't come in and get that fixed," Dawson said of voters who do not update the missing information.
Why it matters: The board’s work directly affects who can vote without provisional ballots and prepares the county for municipal and other upcoming elections. Dawson outlined an early December start to candidate filing for several offices, including sheriff, Superior Court and three seats on the Board of Education.
Key details from the report - Registered-voter totals: Dawson said the county had grown from roughly 7,500 registered voters in 2017 to about 8,073 after the most recent list maintenance removed about 312 voters. - Candidate filing: Filing for sheriff, Superior Court and other seats will begin in December; soil-and-water positions will have a later deadline in June because those races are nonpartisan. - Sheriff filing requirement: Dawson cited an existing state requirement that any candidate for sheriff obtain a felony-disclosure statement from the North Carolina Sheriff’s Training and Standards Division before filing (transcript reference to a state statute requirement for sheriff candidates). - Registry repairs: After review tied to the earlier litigation, county staff reduced the number of registrations missing required partial ID information and will work with the state board to notify those remaining voters. - Training and staffing: Dawson described required training, conference attendance, and the department’s ongoing work to map voter addresses to the county GIS and to process weekly updates for deceased voters and address changes.
Dawson invited commissioners to ask questions about voter-removal procedures, outreach and interagency data sharing; commissioners asked about how the office receives death notifications and how moves out of state are handled.
What’s next Dawson said the office will continue registry repairs, publish candidate-filing dates, and present any required updates to the board as deadlines approach.
