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oters in the Town of Oriental go to the fire station on Straight Road Tuesday to cast votes in races for Mayor and Town Board. Those elected will serve as mayor and town commissioners for two years.

For months, the three-way contest for mayor seemed the only election to watch since there were only five candidates for the five Town Board seats. But that changed in recent weeks when at least two write-in candidates emerged for the Town Board.

On The Ballot

The names on the ballot for the Mayor’s race include two-term incumbent Bill Sage, Katy Pugh and Jennifer Roe. Roe has served the past two years on the Town Board. Pugh has served on the Tourism Board and, briefly, on the Planning Board.

The five names on the ballot for Town Board are, in alphabetical order, Michelle Bessette, Hugh Grady, Sherrill Styron, Larry Summers and Barbara Venturi. Venturi and Styron currently serve on the Town Board.

All five candidates had appeared to have an easy skate in to office until late October when Pat Herlands and Warren Johnson said they would serve if elected as write-in candidates. Johnson currently serves on the Town Board. Herlands has been a long-time attendee at Town Board meetings.

How to Vote For A Write-In

Oriental residents cast ballots via a touch-screen system. Pamlico County Elections Director Lisa Bennett says that on that screen, voters will see a ballot with the named Town Board candidates as well as five slots on the screen for write-in candidates. (To download a sample ballot, click here. An image of the sample ballot is below.)

In order to write in a name, Bennett says, the voter would touch on the screen where it says “write in” after which a keyboard would appear on the screen. Using that keyboard, the voter would type in the name or names of the candidate they wanted to write in.

That name (or names) would then appear on their ballot which they can review before giving the final touch to have their ballot entered in to the system.

As there are five seats on the Town Board, voters may write in as many as five names. They may be the names of the two write-in candidates who’ve emerged in recent weeks and/orr any other resident of the town. Voters may choose both write-ins and candidates whose names area already on the ballot. The total number of people voters may vote for in the Town Board race is five. Voters do not need to vote for five people. They may vote for anywhere between none and five.

Polls will be open from 6:30a to 7:30p.

A sample ballot as provided by the Pamlico County Board of Elections. Elections Director Lisa Bennett says this is what will initially appear on the screen on Tuesday. Those voters wishing to write-in the name of a person they want to serve on the Town Board start that process by touching/clicking on the word “Write In” on the screen.

Posted Monday November 7, 2011 by Melinda Penkava