Independent Shannon Long submits 5,011 signatures, appears to meet 4% threshold

Shannon Long, running as an unaffiliated candidate for Alamance County sheriff, submitted 5,011 petition signatures and appears to have surpassed the 4,741-signature threshold required to qualify for the November general election, Alamance County election director Dawn Hurdle said. “As of yesterday ... he has 5,011 names that qualified,” Hurdle said, noting the county’s January voter registration baseline set the 4 percent quota at 4,741 signatures.

Under state law, "an unaffiliated candidate for a countywide office must collect the signatures of at least 4 percent of that county’s registered voters by the date of the primary in order to earn the right to compete in a general election." Hurdle said Long began circulating petitions well over a month before January 1 and completed part of his candidate paperwork in person at the county elections office on Feb. 26. Hurdle said, “Mr. Long actually came in on the 26th [of February] and did some of his paperwork.”

The county’s verification process remains underway. Kevin Harrison, chairman of the Alamance County Board of Elections, was still reviewing signatures "after the polls closed on Tuesday," Hurdle said, and she described Harrison’s review as "largely just a formality." The board is scheduled to convene on Friday to certify the results of the primaries and to complete its review of unaffiliated petitions; county officials expect the board will approve the petition at that meeting.

Hurdle outlined the administrative next steps if the board certifies Long’s petition: county staff will forward the paperwork to Raleigh, after which Long would be entered on the statewide candidate list. “We will send the paperwork to Raleigh, and he will officially be on the ballot this November,” Hurdle said. County election staff indicated that, once certified, Long’s name should be entered into the state system in the days that follow the board vote.

If certification is finalized, the November ballot would pit incumbent Terry S. Johnson against Shannon Long. Johnson secured the Republican nomination in the primary, has served as Alamance County sheriff since 2001, and has worked in law enforcement since 1972. With no Democratic challenger filed in the sheriff’s race, Long’s qualification would turn the contest into a head-to-head between the incumbent and the unaffiliated challenger.

Officials noted that the formal certification vote and the state-level entry of candidate information remain the final steps before Long is officially listed on ballots and in state systems. The county’s board meeting on Friday is expected to resolve the outstanding verification items and determine whether the 5,011 signatures reported by Hurdle translate into official qualification for the November ballot.