The death in January of Guilford County Commissioner Carolyn Coleman, who served as the District 7 commissioner for two decades, left that seat open for the 2022 election.

Coleman’s granddaughter, Genesis, attempted to file to run for the seat but was unable to do so because of a state law that requires a candidate to be a member of the party they run in for at least 90 days prior to the day they file to run.

Near the end of the filing period, which concluded Friday, March 4, Coleman’s granddaughter came down to the Board of Elections office in the Old Guilford County Court House in downtown Greensboro – along with then soon-to-be at-large Democratic commissioner candidate Greg Drumwright.  She found out, however, when she attempted to file, that she couldn’t register to run in the race because she hadn’t been a registered Democrat for the legally required 90 days.

Guilford County Board of Elections Director Charlie Collicutt said that, when she attempted to file, election staff did the routine checks for candidates filing and found that Genesis had been registered as unaffiliated for much less than the 90 days required.  Only recently before filing to run had she changed her political affiliation to Democrat.  Therefore, she couldn’t legally file to run.

Collicutt said a candidate can get on the ballot as an unaffiliated after the filing period closes by collecting enough signatures, and, if they are successful, they will then be listed on the ballot as “Unaffiliated.”

The candidates who did file to run for Coleman’s seat are Democrats Anthony Izzard, Lisa McMillan, Karen Albright and Frankie Jones, who was selected by the county’s Democratic Party leaders to fill the seat until the November election.

Republican Kenny Abbe is also in that race in that heavily Democratic district.

(Genesis Coleman is seen above on Thursday, April 7 accepting a proclamation from the Board of Commissioners that renames a county meeting room after Carolyn Coleman.)