Filing opens this week for municipal mayor, council positions

Laurens County, South Carolina – Anyone considering a run for public office at the municipal level has a week before filing closes for the March 7, 2023, election in a handful of Laurens County cities and towns, according to Lynne West, director of the Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Laurens County. Filing will open this week for those mayoral and council seats and commissioner positions.

“Filing opens at noon Wednesday, Dec. 28, and it closes at noon on Friday, Jan. 6,” West said. “The election is scheduled for Tuesday, March 7. Those with a current voter registration can vote at that time. If not, the last day to be registered to vote is Friday, Feb. 3, and they can register online, at the election office or at the Department of Motor Vehicles.”
Early voting begins Feb. 20.

Across the county, seats up for election are as follows:
City of Laurens – The Mayor of Laurens and three council seats will be on the ballot.
Those seats are currently held by Mayor Nathan Senn, Dist. 3 Council Member Cassandra Campbell, Dist. 5 Councilman Martin Lowry and Dist. 6 Councilman Johnnie Bolt.
CPW – Dist. 1 and Dist. 2 commissioner seats will be on the ballot. District 1 is currently held by Tomeka Craig, who was assigned and approved to finish out the term remaining after the death of Brenda Curry in Aug. 2021. The current Dist. 2 Commissioner is Jeff Thompson.
City of Clinton – In the City of Clinton, the mayor and three council seats are up for grabs.
Bob McLean is the mayor of Clinton, and the council seats up for election are Dist. 2 held by Shirley Jenkins, Dist. 4 held by Gary Kuykendall and Dist. 6 seat held by Megan Walsh.
Town of Gray Court – For those wishing to run for mayor or either of the two at-large council seats in Gray Court, the filing fees are $150 for mayor and $100 for the council seats. The current mayor is Stellartean Jones and the two town council seats up for election are held by Carla Shaw and Wanda Phillip. Phillip was recently elected to fill the short remaining term vacated when former council member Armicia Geneik Brewster resigned from her post.
Town of Waterloo – There is no filing fee for those wishing to make a run for the two open council seats in the Town of Waterloo. On the ballot will be two at-large seats currently held by Bruce Smith and Johnnie Cheeks.
Town of Cross Hill – The Town of Cross Hill runs on a four year cycle without the council overlap of other municipalities, so there is no election scheduled for Cross Hill this year.

Filing fees, which vary depending on the municipality, need to be paid at the specific municipal city or town government office, or the utility office in the case of CPW, West said, and a receipt is then delivered by the candidate to the Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Laurens County at its new office at the county’s Bolt Drive Complex, 105 Bolt Drive., Suite B, Laurens.

“Cities and towns have to pay the Board of Voter Registration and Election for our costs to conduct the election,” said West, “and probably some of the filing fees help cover those costs.”

For seats in the cities of Laurens and Clinton and the Laurens Commission of Public Works, the filing fees are $50 per candidate.

In Clinton, the fees can be paid at the M.S. Bailey Municipal Center at 211 N. Broad Street in Clinton. Fees are paid in Laurens at City Hall, 126 East Public Square, and CPW candidates pay at the LCPW office, 212 Church Street, Laurens.

In Gray Court filing fees are $150 for mayor and $100 for the town council seats, payable at the town hall, 329 W. Main St.

There is no fee to file in Waterloo, but intent must be made known at the Waterloo Town Hall, 93 Coyote Dr.