Polk County Democrats

2012 Election Page

The page is basically under construction, and will change frequently as the election season progresses. The last date of update was 2/20/2012.

Election Date

Election day itself is November 6, 2012. 

Other Important Dates

Candidate Filing Window: February 13 - February 29, 2012. All candidates seeking office must register for the election during this window.

Absentee Voting Window, Primary: March 19 - May 1.

Early voting Window, Primary: April 19 - May 5.

Primary Election: May 8, 2012. If more than one candidate seeks any one office, a primary election to decide the nominee will be held on this date.

Filing Window, Board of Education: June 4 - June 29.

Filing Window: Soil and Water: June 11 - July 6.

Second Primary Date: June 26, 2012. If the first primary fails to designate a winner, then a runoff between the top two finishers will he held on this date.

Absentee Ballot Window, General: TBA

Early Voting Window, General: TBA

Polling Places

Click here for the Precinct Polling Places.

Election Ballot

Neither the primary nor general election ballots are yet available.

Pocket Ballots

Our handy "pocket ballots" for the general election are not yet available.

Offices Up For Election

This is a presidential election year, and most offices are up for election. They are as follows:

National Offices

President: President Obama will face the winner of the Republican primary, at this point presumably Mitt Romney.

Statewide Offices

Neither of our Senators is up for election this cycle.

Governor: Incumbent Democrat Bev Perdue has announced that she is not seeking re-election to a second term. Democrats filing to run are: Bill Faison,
Gary Dunn, and Gardenia Henley. Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has filed for the Republican nomination.

Lt. Governor: Walter Dalton will be retiring to run for Governor. Democrat Linda Coleman has filed to run, as has the following Republicans: Dale Folwell, Dan Forest, and Tony Gurley.

Attorney General: Democrat Roy Cooper has filed to run for re-election; no Republican opponents have yet filed.

Secretary of State: Incumbent Democrat Elaine Marshall has filed for re-election. Republican Kevin Gardner has also filed.

Treasurer: Incumbent Democrat Janet Cowell has filed for re-election; no Republicans have yet filed to oppose her.

Auditor: Incumbent Democrat Beth Wood has filed for re-election; Republicans Debra Goldman and Greg Dority have filed to oppose her.

Commissioner of Agriculture; Incumbent Republican Steve Troxler has filed for re-election; no Democrats have yet filed.

Commissioner of Labor: Incumbent Republican Cherie Berry has filed for re-election. Democrats Marlowe Foster and John Brooks have filed to oppose her.

Commissioner of Insurance: Incumbent Democrat Wayne Goodwin has filed for re-election. Republican Mike Causey has filed to oppose him.

Superintendant of Public Instruction: Incumbent Democrat June Atkinson has filed for re-election; Republican Ray Ernest Martin has filed to oppose her.

Regional Offices

US Congressman for the 10th District, with incumbent Republican Patrick McHenry filing along with a token opponent (Ken Fortenberry). Democrats filing for the nomination include NC Representative Patsy Keever, and Tim Murphy; Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy is also running but has not yet filed.

NC Senator for the 47th District: This is a new district for us, currently represented by Republican Ralph Hice, who has filed for re-election. No Democrat has yet announced to oppose him.

NC Representative for the 113th District, consisting of Polk and Transylvania Counties, and part of Henderson County.  Incumbent Republican Trudi Walend has filed for re-election, but no Democrats have yet done so.

District Attorney for District 29B, where incumbent Republican Jeff Hunt has declared for the Republican primary for Congressman in the 11th District, and so presumably will not be running for re-election.

Local Offices

Polk County Board of Commissioners, with three seats up for election, those of Democratic incumbents Renee McDermott and Cindy Walker, and Republican Tom Pack. 

Renee McDermott has filed to run again, but Cindy Walker is retiring. Russell Mierop of Green Creek has also filed to run, so we have to find one more candidate.

The Republicans who have so far filed for the three seats are Incumbent Tom Pack, Michael Gage, and Keith Holbert. 

Polk County Clerk of Court, with incumbent Democrat Pam Hyder, having assumed the office by appointment, needing to seek election in her own right to serve out the remainder of Charlene Owens' term. She has filed to run in the fall, and Republican Marche Pittman has filed to oppose her.

Registrar of Deeds, with incumbent Republican Sheila Whitmire filing for re-election. Democrat Pat Doggett has announced plans to run for the seat, but has not yet filed.

School Board: There are three seats up for election this cycle: Rick Covil (Tryon), who has filed for re-election; Melanie Talbot (Saluda), who will not seek re-election; and Cindy Allen (White Oak).

Soil and Water: Candidates and filing to be announced.

Judicial Offices

Judicial offices are always the most troublesome ones for any election, because voters typically know nothing about any of the candidates but their political affiliation, if that. That includes polkdemocrats.com, which endorses judicial candidates strictly based on party affiliation and remains neutral when, as often occurs, multiple Democrats file for the same seat.

polkdemocrats.com strongly believes that judges should be appointed; judicial offices are not political, and candidates for them should not be thrust into the cauldron of public opinion, particularly public opinion as uninformed as it always is in judicial elections.

The judicial seats and the candidates filing for them are as follows:

Supreme Court, Associate Justice, Newby Seat: Incumbent Paul Martin Newby has filed to retain his seat; no opponents have filed so far.

Court of Appeals Judge, McGee Seat: Incumbent Linda McGee has filed to retain the seat; no others have.

Court of Appeals Judge, Bryant Seat: Incumbent Wanda Bryant has filed for re-election; Martin McGee has filed to oppose her.

Court of Appeals Judge, Thigpen Seat: Incumbent Cressie Thigpen has filed for re-election, and Chris Dillon has filed to oppose him.

District Court Judge 29B, Knight Seat: Incombent Republican Peter Knight has filed to retain his seat, and Robin Bowen has filed as well.

Primaries

The need for primaries will be determined during the candidate filing window. If more than one candidate in either party files for the same office, then a primary election must be held to determine that party's nominee. Candidates filing as independents pass directly to the general election ballot, bypassing primaries altogether, and judicial primaries follow impossible, arcane, and always-changing rules that must be relearned each cycle.

Democratic primary contests will be listed here as they develop.