Residents casting a ballot in the general election in November will officially have three choices when deciding who will represent the first district on the Bryan County Board of Commissioners for the next four years.
Ed Bacon’s bid for the seat as an independent candidate was made official recently after his petition to be on the November ballot was OK’d by the County Voter Registration Office.
That means Bacon will face Democratic candidate and incumbent Joe Kendrick and Republican Noah Covington on Election Day.
Kendrick, a Democrat, and Covington, a Republican, both won their respective nominations during the July 31 primary election. But Bacon, a former county commissioner, had to gather a petition of 161 signatures, or 5 percent of the registered voters in District 1.
According to the Voter Registration Office, Bacon turned in a petition of 438 signatures, though only 313 signatures were verified as registered voters.
Bacon said it took him a little more than two months to gather the signatures for the petition, which he turned in July 23.
“I started about May 12 and going around asking people about it,” he said.
“It was good to go by and talk with different (people) and it was a great opportunity,” he said. “Any time you do something like that about the only time you can work on it is the weekends, that’s the only time people are home.”
Bacon said it wasn’t difficult to get the signatures, but he doesn’t agree with the extra step for those who wish to qualify without a party affiliation.

Read more in the Sept. 15 edition of the News.