More than 2,400 early votes cast in Columbus
Primary Election is Tuesday

By NICOLE CARTRETTE
Staff Writer

An unprecedented number of residents have already cast their ballot for the May 6 Primary Election.

More than 2,400 people have voted at One Stop, early voting sites, according to Columbus County Board of Elections director Carla Strickland.

The total number of registered voters has also increased –breaking the 37,000 mark.
New policies allow residents to register and vote at One Stop, early voting sites that ended May 3 and contributed to a rise in registrations.

“A lot of new registrations have occurred,” Strickland said, pointing out a large number of younger voters has emerged. “We have some graduates who have come of age to vote and other people that have never, ever voted before,” Strickland said. “It has been a pleasant surprise.”

Primary Election Day is May 6 with 26 polling sites open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. throughout the county. Check Whiteville.com and the Columbus County Board of Election website at columbusco.org by clicking on Board of Elections for election results.

Local races for the Register of Deed’s office and several County Commission seats are on the ballot.

Incumbent Kandace Whitehead, of Whiteville is in a three-way race to keep her elected office. Former Register of Deed’s employee and Waccamaw Bank employee Janie Caswell, of Chadbourn, and Jim Mauldin, a Certified Public Accountant with his office in Whiteville are seeking their first political office.

Three Columbus County Commissioner races are on the ballot.

Three candidates are vying for the District 3 seat held by incumbent Sammie Jacobs and owner of Sammie Jacobs Dispatch. Jacobs faces challengers R.O. “Reggie” Spaulding, an employee of DZ Atlantic, and Giles “Buddy” Byrd of Hallsboro, a farmer with real estate interests.

In District 4, Edwin Russ of Lake Waccamaw and owner of Southern tire and Muffler in Whiteville is seeking to unseat incumbent William “Bill” Memory Jr., of Whiteville, owner of the Memory Company.

Commissioner James Prevatte in District 2 is unopposed and will not appear on the ballot.

In addition to the presidential races in which Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are seeking the democratic nomination, several other offices are on the primary ballot.

Those races include for the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kay Hagan, Duskin C. Lassiter, Jim Neal, Howard Staley and Marcus W. Williams.

Seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate are Pete Di Lauro and incumbent Elizabeth Dole.
Seeking the Democratic nomination for governor is Richard Moore, Bev Perdue, and Dennis Nelsen.

Republican candidates for Governor include: Bill Graham, Pat McCrory, Robert Orr, E. Powers and Fred Smith.

For additional races or to view ballots go the Board of Elections website at columbusco.org or see the special section published in the Thursday, May 1 edition of The News Reporter.

Polls up at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.