Filing for the 2010 elections ended noon Friday and the official primary ballot that followed produced a few surprises from the list of challengers who will try to knock off incumbents for county office seats this fall.

Incumbent Richard Blackburn will look to return to his seat on the Ashe County Board of Commissioners as he will be one of five Democratic candidates in this year’s May primary.

Jerry Bare of Jefferson will look to recapture a seat on the board. Roy Carter, who ran against incumbent Virginia Foxx in the Fifth Congressional Race in 2008, has also thrown his hat into the ring for the May primary. He will be accompanied by fellow Democratic Party hopefuls Dallas Shatley and by Jerry McMillan, who lost a re-election bid in last year’s municipal race for the West Jefferson Board of Aldermen. McMillan and Shatley have previously sought a seat on the board of commissioners.

Commission Chairwoman Judy Porter Poe is listed on the November General Election ballot along with Gary Roark and William Sands, both Republicans from Jefferson. With only three candidates, there will not be a primary for the Republican ticket for commissioner. These three will face three Democratic candidates in November.

In the November General Election, the two candidates who receive the most votes in the commissioners’ race will each earn a four-year term. The elected official who receives the third highest vote total will receive a two-year term.

In the race for the Register of Deed’s office, incumbent Democrat Shirley Wallace will take on the winner of the May Republican Primary, which features Phyllis Critcher and Dayna Price fighting for the right to represent the Republican ticket.

Clerk of Superior Court Pam Barlow, a Republican, and Sheriff James Williams, a Democrat, will run unopposed on the November ballot. Both of those offices are for four-year terms.

At the federal level, Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr will be seeking another six-year term in the office. He will be joined by Rolando Linney of Charlotte, Wesley Jones of Lake Toxaway, and James Burks of Asheville on the Republican primary ticket. The Democrat primary ticket for the U.S. Senate race will consist of Marcus Williams of Lumberton, Wilma Ann Worthy of Gastonia, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, Ken Lewis of Chapel Hill, Susan Harris of Old Fort, and James Cunningham of Lexington.

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx will meet Keith Gardner in the May Republican primary for the Fifth Congressional race. Billy Kennedy, a Democrat, will take on the winner of that primary in the November race.

In the North Carolina General Assembly, Sen. Steve Goss will look to continue serving the 45th District for the N.C. Senate and will meet opposition from either Jeffrey Carter Elmore of North Wilkesboro or Dan Soucek of Boone, pending the outcome of the Republican primary.

Incumbent Democrat Cullie Tarleton will be defending his representation for District 93 of the N.C. House in the November General Election from Republican hopeful Jonathan Jordan of Jefferson.

Primary Day in North Carolina will take place May 11.