ELIZABETHTOWN — In what amounts to an unusual election cycle, registered voters across North Carolina will be called back to polling places on Tuesday to cast ballots for congressional seats and non-partisan judgeships.
The June election date was created because the redistricting map submitted by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature was overturned by the courts just before the March primary election.
In Bladen County, there will be 12 polling places open Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Registered Republicans will have the chance to cast a ballot for one candidate in Congressional District 9 from among three challengers. They are Mark Harris, Todd Johnson and Robert Pittinger.
All registered voters will have the chance to vote on one candidate from among four running for an associate seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Those candidates are Michael R. Morgan, Daniel Robertson, Robert H. Edmunds and Sabra Jean Faires.
According to Cynthia Shaw, director of the Bladen County Board of Elections, the 12 polling sites for the Congressional District 9 vote in the county will be located at Abbottsburg Community Building, Bethel Lions Club, Bladenboro Historical Building, Bladenboro’s Old Spaulding-Monroe School, Brown Marsh Town Hall, Central Shriners Building, Colly-White Lake Fire Department, Cypress Creek-Hickory Grove Fire Department, Elizabethtown Recreation Department Gym, Hollow Municipal Building, Turnbull-Ammon Community Building and White Oak Ruritan Building.
Although part of the Congressional District 7 seat falls in Bladen County, there are no candidates in that race to decide on.
Despite the reset congressional and judgeship election next week, there is no guarantee the election will stick, since the redistricting issue remains tied up in the courts.
“We just don’t know yet what will happen,” Shaw said. “It’s been expensive for us (to get absentee ballots sent out again), and we might have to do it all over again (but) I just don’t see how.
“A lot of people still don’t know we’re having an election next week,” she added.
The Bladen County Board of Elections sent out more than 730 absentee ballots for the Tuesday election and, as of Wednesday, had received 376 back. Also as of Wednesday, the One-Stop Voting at the Elizabethtown Public Library has had 129 votes cast. Registered voters will have one last chance to cast a ballot early — between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the library on Saturday.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached by calling 910-862-4163.