8 filings for 2024 races

New voting machines shown off

Service technician Chris Kingsbury loads up one of the 11 Print-Elect machines demonstrated in the Dec. 7 mock election. Photo by Ruby Annas/news@grahamstar.com

Graham County Board of Elections members Lowell Crisp (left) and Beefy Rogers (center) join deputy director Tasha Holder in trying out the new Printelect machines during Dec. 7’s mock election. The upgraded equipment will be available to local voters next year. Photo courtesy of Graham County Board of Elections — Graham County Board of Elections members Lowell Crisp (left) and Beefy Rogers (center) join deputy director Tasha Holder in trying out the new Printelect machines during Dec. 7’s mock election. The upgraded equipment will be available to local voters next year. *Photo courtesy of Graham County Board of Elections*

Robbinsville – Eight names have been tossed in the proverbial hats for next year’s local races.

For the Graham County Board of Education, incumbents Pam Knott and Rodney Nelson – both Republicans – have both submitted their paperwork. Coy Buchanan filed Wednesday as Unaffiliated; his place on the ballot will be subject to a petition (collection of signatures).

In the race for three seats on the Graham County Board of Commissioners, three new faces – Aaron Bradley, Gina Shuler and Meggan Smith – have filed. Incumbents Lynn Cody and Connie Orr filed Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, respectively.

All six are running as Republicans.

Three seats are being contested on each board; commissioner Keith Eller and school board member Jonathan Allison are the only incumbents to not have filed for re-election thus far. Both of their seats are up for grabs on their respective boards.

The period to file closes at noon Friday.

Booths upgraded

The board also demonstrated 11 new Printelect voting machines Dec. 7.

A mock election was held to show the new updates like an information screen and faster processing.

Graham County has had outdated voting equipment for some time, but that has changed thanks to a house bill, which passed a mandate for voting equipment to be updated statewide.

Graham County Board of Election Chair Juanita Colvard brought to attention to the need for new machines at the Graham County Board of Commissioners meeting Oct. 17. The commissioners approved the payments for the updated equipment, which is split between $58,000, $8,625 and $4,768.

New Bern-based Printelect proposed a two-part payment plan, due July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2025, with zero interest.

The old voting equipment (M100s) has a $14,000 trade-off.