Filing starts Friday for municipal races

DOBSON — So, with a primary process completed earlier this year, there’ll be no more talk of local politics until the weeks just before the November general election, right?

Wrong.

As the presidential race heats up on the national scene, campaign talk also will be firing up during the already sweltering dog days of July concerning plans for municipal elections across Surry County.

The candidates’ filing period opens on July 5 at noon for eight different elected offices in the towns of Dobson, Pilot Mountain and Elkin, all of which are non-partisan.

Filing will end on July 19 at noon. Candidates officially toss their hats into the ring at the Surry County Board of Elections office at 915 E. Atkins St. in Dobson.

The 2024 municipal election affects three seats on the Dobson Board of Commissioners now held by Robin Beeson, Todd Dockery and Amy Whitaker, according to a breakdown from Surry Director of Elections Michella Huff.

In Pilot Mountain, the offices presently occupied by town commissioners Rachel Collins and Dwight Atkins are up for grabs this year.

Three town officials in Elkin also are facing re-election, including Mayor Sam Bishop and commissioners Alvin Hayes and Robert Ball Jr.

The filing fee for the commissioner seats in Dobson is $24, with the cost of running for the town board in Pilot Mountain $30.

That for Elkin mayor is $55, and $33 is the filing fee for the commissioner seats there.

Municipal candidates who file next month will be on the Nov. 5 Surry County general election ballot.

(While Mount Airy also is a municipality, it is on a different schedule than Dobson, Pilot Mountain and Elkin. The candidates’ filing period for the city occurred last December, ahead of a primary election on March 5.)

Meanwhile, the filing period for a non-partisan Surry County Soil and Water Conservation supervisor position began on June 10 and will end on July 5 at noon.

It is now held by Glenn Pruitt.