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Board Rejects Challenge To Hege's Bid For Sheriff

Former Davidson County Sheriff Gerald Hege awaits the start of a hearing on his candidacy alongside his attorney, Katie Hall. WFDD photo by Paul Garber

The Davidson County Board of Elections voted to allow a controversial former sheriff to remain on the ballot for the May primary.

A standing-room-only crowd heard more than two hours of testimony and discussion before the board voted 3-1 to deny a challenge to former sheriff Gerald K. Hege's candidacy.

The issue was whether a felony record that had been expunged clears the way for a candidate to run for sheriff. The state constitution bars convicted felons from eligibility, based on an amendment passed by voters the same year as Hege's last run for office.

But board members were concerned that the language didn't directly address expunged records.

Hege served as sheriff for ten years but was ousted from office and ultimately pleaded guilty to two felony charges. He recently went through the process of removing the convictions.

He still has to convince voters he's the right man for the job. His last run for his former job ended in a landslide loss.

Hege is running in a packed GOP field that includes incumbent Sheriff David Grice as well as challengers Richie Simmons and Greg Wood.

No Democrats filed to run.

The primary is May 8.

Paul Garber is a Winston-Salem native and an award-winning reporter who began his journalism career with an internship at The High Point Enterprise in 1993. He has previously worked at The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The News and Record of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Journal, where he was the newspaper's first full-time multimedia reporter. He won the statewide Media and the Law award in 2000 and has also been recognized for his business, investigative and multimedia reporting. Paul earned a BA from Wake Forest University and has a Master's of Liberal Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Master's of Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Lewisville.

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