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Primary election is March 3; early voting ends Feb. 29

COLUMBUS—Polk County residents can get a jump on voting beginning this Thursday by participating in OneStop Early Voting. 

Early voting begins Thursday and will continue until Feb. 29. 

People can vote at the Polk County Board of Elections, located on the second floor of the Womack building in Columbus from 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturdays during the early voting period. 

Primary Election Day is Tuesday, March 3, when Polk County’s seven precincts will be open from 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. 

Sample ballots for each party as well as election information and absentee ballot request forms can be found on the board of elections website, at polknc.org. 

Voters will vote for the March 3 primary in their registered party and if registered unaffiliated, may choose to vote republican, democrat or libertarian. 

Voters will be picking candidates for the November election for each party, including federal and state races. There will be no local selections for this year’s primary for Polk County voters, as not enough candidates filed for Polk County Commissioner or the Register of Deeds. 

The selections include choosing a candidate for each party for U.S. President. 

The General Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 3 and will include federal state and local elections. 

There are three open seats for the county board of commissioners. The seats of Ray Gasperson (D), Myron Yoder (R) and Jake Johnson (R) are up for re-election. Johnson resigned last summer after being appointed as a state representative following the resignation of Cody Henson. The county appointed David Moore (R) to fill Johnson’s seat. 

Gasperson, Moore and Yoder filed as well as newcomer Andre Overholt (R) for the three commissioner seats. 

Johnson is running for the North Carolina House of Representatives District 113 seat. 

The Polk County Register of Deeds is also up for re-election, currently held by Sheila Whitmire (R), who filed for re-election and is running unopposed. 

There will also be open Polk County School Board seats open this year, as well as Polk County Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor seats. 

Seats on the school board open next year include Saluda, Tryon, White Oak and Columbus. Newcomer Sara Bell filed for the Saluda seat currently held by Rhonda Corley, who did not file for re-election this year; incumbent Rick Covil filed for the Tryon seat; incumbent Cindy Allen filed for the White Oak seat and Danielle Gibbs filed for the Columbus seat along with Robbie Price. Gibbs was appointed to fill the open seat earlier this year by then chairman Geoff Tennant, who passed away last summer.