In fact, 2008 in Person County and, for that matter, all of North Carolina is a “long ballot” election year. What that means is that when Person voters go to the polls for the general election in November, the ballot will feature races ranging from the White House at the top of the ticket to the Person Soil & Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors at the bottom, with a whole bunch of county, district and state offices sandwiched in between, including contests for governor and North Carolina Council of State offices.

But, to paraphrase a song lyric, it’s a long, long way from January to November, and Person voters will have some work to do in the interim, inasmuch as primaries for county and state offices will be first up in May. And for Personians, primarily of interest will be potential party primaries for Person County offices.

This year, three seats on the five-seat Person Board of County Commissioners are up for election. Additionally, county voters will fill all five seats on the Person County Board of Education in politically non-partisan balloting that will involve no primary; but more about that later.

The only other county post up for election in 2008 is register of deeds.

Personians, however, will join with voters in neighboring Caswell County to select a District Court judge to serve the two-county Judicial District 9A.

County voters this year get a chance to elect a majority of the members of the board of county commissioners. The seats up for election are now held by first term Commissioners Larry Bowes, a Democrat, and Larry Yarborough, a Republican, and another Democrat Jimmy B. Clayton, the board’s vice chairman, who is completing his second term in office. >>

The commissioners race could prove to be a spirited one this year, fueled by the emotionally charged landfill expansion issue that dominated much of the past year and which continues to hang fire. Conceivably, expansion opponents and-or proponents could run for commissioner, hoping to influence county direction on the landfill and long-term solid waste disposal policy.

Of the incumbents whose seats are up for grabs in 2008, both Bowes and Clayton voted against landfill expansion while Yarborough voted in favor of a majority-passed motion to allow an additional cell at the landfill but to delay permits pending a study of options performed by consultants to be hired by the county.

Controversy is not likely to be a factor in this year’s election of a county register of deeds. Incumbent Register Amanda Garrett, a Democrat, who was unopposed for re-election four years ago, is expected to seek her fourth consecutive term in office, during which she would hope to finally gain the additional office space for which she has consistently lobbied county commissioners for nearly a dozen years.

The candidate-filing period for most county and state offices is scheduled to open at noon on Feb. 11 and continue until noon Feb. 29.

That filing period, however, does not apply to this year’s Person County school board contest, which is governed by special regulations in keeping with terms of a settlement in a 1990s lawsuit that challenged the staggered-term election methodology for choosing county school board members at the time.

As a result of the settlement, Person school board elections are politically non-partisan and all five seats are filled at the same time by plurality vote in the November general election.

The candidate-filing period for school board won’t begin until early August.

The incumbent school board members are Pecolia Beatty, Ronnie King, Gordon Powell, Vicki Nelson and Jimmy Wilkins. Powell and Wilkins are the chairman and vice chairman, respectively.

For the school board, the past year proved to be an active one, defined by the board’s finally nailing down a site for a new school bus garage, selection of a new superintendent to succeed Supt. Ronnie G. Bugnar, who retired after 25 years, and lobbying county commissioners for more money to cover the school system’s growing operational expenses.

Aside from the school board, primaries for all other county and state contests this year are scheduled for May 6, if necessary.

There is potential for a primary for District Court judge for Person and Caswell counties this year. Judicial elections in North Carolina now are politically non-partisan, but in the event there are as many as three candidates for a single judgeship, a primary is held to winnow the field to two candidates to meet in the November general election. That’s exactly what happened four years ago, when first term District Court Judge Mike Gentry of Caswell County led a three-candidate field in a primary and then went on to best challenger LuAnn Wright in the 2004 general election and earn a second term. Gentry is expected to make a bid for a third term in office this year.

Speaking of third terms, state Rep. W. A. (Winkie) Wilkins Jr., a Democrat from Person County now in his second term, also is expected this year to run for re-election to the House District 55 seat for which he has been essentially twice unopposed. The district includes all of Person County and northern Durham County.

Wilkins’s colleague in the state Senate, however, veteran incumbent Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Democrat from Carrboro, will be challenged by Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey in her bid for re-election. Carey, also a Democrat, traveled to Person County last July to announce his intention to seek the Senate seat from District 23, which is comprised of Person and Orange counties.

Here are important dates in the 2008 election calendar through the May primaries:

Feb. 11 — Filing period begins at noon

Feb. 29 — Filing period closes at noon.

March 17 — Absentee ballots ready.

April 11 — Voter registration deadline.

April 17 —One-Stop voting begins.

May 5 — Absentee ballot deadline, 5 p.m.

May 6 — Primary elections.

May 14 — Deadline for eligible candidates to request vote recount, 5 p.m.

May 15 — Deadline for eligible candidates to request second primary, noon

May 19 — Canvass of May 6 vote.