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Thirteen Candidates Run For Commissioner
July 19, 2013

13

candidates’ names will be on the ballot in Oriental’s Town Board Commissioner elections in November. There are five Commissioners’ seats on the Board.

Though the elections are 3-and-a-half months away, the candidates had to file by noon on July 19. That deadline concluded the 2 week filing period.

Until the last 3 hours of filing, no one had filed for Mayor. Then on Friday morning, came two candidates. They are former Town Commissioner and former Town Hall staffer, Lori Wagoner and incumbent Bill Sage.

It is the Commissioners’ race that drew the most candidates. Three who filed on July 19 — Benjamin Cox and Tim Rodgers and incumbent Barbara Venturi — brought the total to 13.

Candidates and Map

Oriental voters choose all of their commissioners on an at-large basis. There are no districts.

With that in mind, a map of Oriental showing the residences of the candidates may provide some context. It’s a geographical representation of the neighborhoods which have candidates – or multiple candidates.

Three of the candidates – Charlie Overcash, David White, and former Town Manager Bob Maxbauer live within a few doors of each other at the end of Neuse Drive. Another, incumbent Larry Summers, lives on a boat just across Whittaker Creek.

Two candidates – incumbent Michelle Bessette and short-term Deputy Town Manager Sandy Johnson (Johnson-Clarke) live in the White Farm Road section of Oriental. Spread out along the upper reaches of Whittaker Creek, Sandy Winfrey, Gail Good and Pete Ritchie are candidates, as is late-comer to the race, Barbara Venturi..

Until the last day of filing when Tim Rodgers and Ben Cox entered the race, Tony Tharp, who lives across from the Lupton Park and its playground, was the only candidate from Oreintal’s old village neighborhood, the part of town that comes up most for discussion about the Town’s development.

Mayoral candidates Sage and Wagoner live in the old village part of Town as well.

No candidates emerged from upper Midyette Street

The presence of 13 candidates may seem a lot, but a check finds that Oriental voters sorted through a field of 13 in the 2005 race as well. It wavers from year to year. In 2011, there were 5 on ballot and two write-in campaigns. In 2009, 11 candidates filed.

Two In Mayor’s Race – Two Filed Friday.

Until this morning, no one had filed for Mayor, but that changed when Lori Wagoner, former Town Commissioner and former Town Hall employee filed for Mayor. The current Mayor, Bill Sage, also filed shortly afterward at the Pamlico Board of Elections office in Bayboro.

Why Filing Deadline Comes So Far Before November Elections

The filing deadline of July 19 comes in the heat of summer, three-and-a-half months before the November 5 elections. Why that long time between filing and the voting?

County Elections Director Lisa Bennett says we file for office now because it’s a state rule. The NC law requires this early filing deadline because some municipalities — not Oriental — have partisan elections in which candidates run as members of a political party. That sometimes requires primaries be held in advance. For cities with those Democratic and Republican primaries, the filing deadline in July allows time to set up primaries. Because the state wants uniformity in the filing, towns such as Oriental have to file at the same time, even though they don’t have primaries.

For those who might only be sparked by events in August and September to run for office, there remains the Oriental tradition of running as a write-in candidate. It’s how present Town Commissioner Warren Johnson was elected in November of 2011.