Catawba County Commissioner Chair Kitty Barnes announced on Dec. 4, 2007 that she plans to run against incumbent N.C. Sen. Austin Allran for the N.C. Senate District 42, however she has not yet filed.  Barnes said she still intends to run in the election.

“I haven’t picked a date yet,” she said.

Allran filed on Feb. 13 hoping to get a 12th term in the General Assembly.

The terms of commissioners Dan Hunsucker and Barbara Beatty also expire this year, according to Catawba County Board of Elections Director Larry Brewer.  Hunsucker filed to run for his commissioner seat again on Feb. 11 while Beatty has not yet filed.  There is also a new name in the commissioner race this year.  Phillip Parlier, of Hickory officially entered the race on Feb. 11 as well.

N.C. House Reps. Mitchell Setzer (R-89) and Mark Hilton (R-96) have also decided to run for election again.  So far, they are unopposed for their seats.

In Catawba County there are 97, 618 registered voters of which 45,494 are registered Republicans and 30,370 are registered Democrats, Brewer said.  There are also 21,754 unaffiliated voters in the county.

In order to vote in the May 6 primary, residents must be registered by April 11.  All address and party affiliation changes must also be completed by that time.  Seventeen year olds are also allowed to vote in the primary as long as they will be 18 before the Nov. 4 general election.

In the last general election held in November of 2006 45,414 Republicans voted and 30,250 Democrats with a high voter turnout.

If voters stayed loyal to their parties, the Republicans have a statistical advantage in Catawba County and Brewer said the ratio of Republicans to Democrats has remained consistent over the years.

Since Feb. 1, there have been 370 new registrations, which failed to change the ratio, Brewer said. Brewer said the Board of Elections typically gets a lot of new voters prior to a primary and expects a few hundred more before the primary.

He also said of those who have chosen to change their party affiliation, about 50 percent have switched to Republican while the other half switched to Democrats. “We are encouraging people to register now,” Brewer said.  “There are several thousand in Catawba County that need to register, so everyone gets a say so.”

Those wishing to run for election have until Feb. 29 to file at the Board of Elections office and pay their filing fee.  Filing fees are $207 for the N.C. House and N.C. Senate races and $90 for the Catawba County Board of Commissioners.