ASHEBORO N.C. – Today the NC Supreme Court stopped candidate filing in all races and pushed the Primary Election date from March 8th to May 17th.
Randolph News Now was notified just after 5 p.m. in an e-mail from the Randolph County Board of Elections which stated “By order of the North Carolina Supreme Court, filing for all offices for the 2022 primary is suspended. This includes the rescheduled municipal contests, and any separate filing period for those municipal contests in January.”
This comes from the battle over the recently drawn legislative and congressional districts which were approved by the Republican-led General Assembly earlier this year. Two separate lawsuits have been filled challenging the district map by the NC League of Conservation Voters and the NC NAACP who both accuse Republicans of using partisan data to gerrymander the maps.
Now the state’s Supreme Court is saying both those lawsuits must be heard and considered by the courts with a decision made by Jan. 11th. That date does not count any time for appeals to the decision which are expected regardless of the decision.
Read the full ruling by the N.C. Supreme Court Here (PDF)
In a press release the NC Board of Elections said the following:
For any candidate whose filing has been accepted by the State Board of Elections or any county board of elections, that candidate “will be deemed to have filed for the same office” in the May primary, subject to any court rulings that would impact that candidate’s eligibility, according to the Supreme Court order.
Those candidates would be able to withdraw their candidacy during the new filing period. Any individual who withdraws their candidacy is free to file for any other office for which they are eligible during the reopened filing period.
Dates for a new filing period have not been set. Candidate filing had begun on Monday at the N.C. State Fairgrounds for state- and federal-level contests and at all 100 county boards of elections for local contests. As of Wednesday evening, more than 1,400 candidates had filed statewide.
NC Board of Elections Press Release – Dec 8th 2021