NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1963 SESSION

CHAPTER 1043

SENATE BILL 509

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONS OF CARTERET COUNTY.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1. For the purpose of this Act there are hereby created four (4) political districts in Carteret County, to be described and numbered as herein set out, to wit:

District Number One, or First District, shall consist of the Precincts of Morehead City No. 1, Morehead City No. 2, Salter Path, Wildwood, Broad Creek, and any other precincts that hereafter may be created or organized in Morehead Township.

District Number Two, or Second District, shall consist of all of western Carteret County, comprising the Precincts of Newport, Bogue, Pelletier, Cedar Point and Stella, and any other precinct or precincts that hereafter may be established in the Townships of Newport and White Oak.

District Number Three, or Third District, shall consist of the Precincts of Beaufort, Wire Grass, Betty, and any other precinct or precincts that are, or hereafter may be created or established in Beaufort Township.

District Number Four, or Fourth District, shall consist of the Precincts of Harlowe, Merrimon, Otway, Smyrne, Straits, Marshallberg, Harkers Island, Williston, Davis, Stacy, Sea Level, Atlantic, Cedar Island and Portsmouth, and any other precinct or precincts that hereafter may be established in said District.

Sec. 2. In primaries hereafter to be held in Carteret County for the nomination of the Board of County Commissioners (beginning with the 1964 Primary) candidates for nominations shall be qualified voters of the district in which they reside, and they shall be nominated in the primary by the qualified voters of their respective districts participating in such primary. In selecting the five nominees for election to the Board of County Commissioners the voters of each political party holding such primary in the county shall nominate from District Number One (comprising approximately forty-seven per cent (47%) of the population of the county) two candidates from each political party; and from each of the other three districts there shall be nominated by each of the political parties participating in the primary one nominee for election from each such district.

Sec. 3. The names of the persons so nominated for the Board of County Commissioners by each political party from the respective districts mentioned in Section 2 above shall be placed on the official county ballot of Carteret County, with the Township from which each candidate is nominated appearing opposite his name, and the candidate so nominated from the respective districts by the voters of such individual districts shall be voted upon in the general election by the qualified and participating voters of all of the districts combined, or the county as a whole. In the primaries of the several districts the candidates of the respective political parties represented that receive the greatest number of votes, whether or not constituting a majority, shall be declared the nominees of the respective political parties. Should there be filed in District Number One the names of only two candidates from each political party participating, such as have so filed and are found to be otherwise qualified shall be declared the nominees of their respective parties; and should there be filed in each of the other districts the name of only one candidate for each party participating, such candidate so filing and otherwise found to be qualified shall be declared the nominee of his party in his district. Notice of candidacy shall be filed as presently prescribed under the General Law, and each notice of filing shall be accompanied by a filing fee of ten dollars ($10.00).

Sec. 4. Any vacancy occurring on the Board of County Commissioners, by death, resignation, or otherwise, shall be filled by appointment by the Clerk of the Superior Court of Carteret County from the district in which the vacancy occurs and from the political party with which the incumbent was affiliated at the time of the vacancy.

Sec. 5. The ballots for election of members of the Board of County Commissioners shall provide for a vote for the slate of candidates presented by each political party and also for the selection of candidates individually by designating the district for which each candidate is a nominee for election. In said election the two candidates from District Number One receiving the greatest number of votes shall be declared the elected members from said district; and likewise the candidate from each of the other districts receiving the greatest number of votes shall be declared the elected member from each of said districts. (It is the purpose of this Act to assure that there shall be on the Board of Commissioners of Carteret County representation from each district in accordance with the allocation herein set out.)

Sec. 6. The members of the said Board of County Commissioners shall be elected for a term of two (2) years, and they shall take office on the first Monday in December thereafter, after having first taken the oath prescribed and otherwise qualified as under the law controlling, and they shall serve for a term of two (2) years, or until their successors are elected and qualified. Annually they shall elect from their membership a chairman, to serve for such period of time as may be prescribed in the motion for election, not exceeding a one-year period.

Sec. 7. The terms of the incumbent members of the Board of County Commissioners shall expire as of the date and time of the election and upon the qualification of their successors in office.

Sec. 8. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 9. This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 20th day of June, 1963.