WINDSOR – The extended filing period for Lewiston-Woodville produced two more hats tossed into the ring for town council when the last remaining filing period in Bertie County ended Friday, Aug. 30.

James Earl Pugh, who actually filed late on Thursday, Aug. 29, will be a candidate for the council seat from the Lewiston district.

June Davis Jernigan filed before closing on Friday morning for the Woodville district seat.

Pugh will face opposition from DiAnne B. Bazemore for the Lewiston seat. Bazemore filed on Aug. 23 – the original date set for the end of the filing period.

The News-Herald made an attempt to contact Pugh for a comment on his filing for the Lewiston seat during the extended filing period, but were unsuccessful.

Both Pugh and Bazemore are seeking the seat vacated by current Councilman Dayle Vaughan. Vaughan has filed for the office of Mayor of Lewiston-Woodville and did so prior to the end of the original Lewiston-Woodville filing period, which ended Aug. 23.

Vaughan’s seat on the current Council, which is in the Lewiston District, is one of the two that are up for election later this year. Martha Thompson holds the other town council seat, which is the one in the Woodville District. Like current Lewiston-Woodville mayor Carl Lee, Thompson did not file for another term in office. Lee also chose not to seek re-election.

Due to a then lack of candidates, the Bertie County Board of Elections, at a special called meeting Aug. 15, moved to allow five extra filing days for any prospective candidates in Lewiston-Woodville seeking the office of mayor or the two town council seats.

The extended filing period was from Aug. 23 at noon until last Friday (Aug. 30) at noon.

When contacted by the News-Herald on Monday, Jernigan stated that she holds down a full-time job and wanted to make it to the Board of Elections office before noon Friday, which she did.

“I had been thinking about it,” Jernigan said. “I usually run against Eddie Graham, but with Martha (Thompson) stepping down, it opened up the other Woodville seat.

“Basically I was waiting to see what was going to happen,” she added. “In the end, it all fell into place.”

For a while it appeared as though no one would file for the Woodville seat, in which case there would just have been a write-in slot on the November ballot for that seat.

Further, had no name been written in on Election Day, then the current office-holders would have to serve a new term.