Incumbent Bogle wins Clerk of Court seat

She said she had an advantage with xml_name recognition over her opponent.

By: Sarah Newell williamson | Hickory Daily Record
Published: May 04, 2010

NEWTON --

Incumbent Al Jean Bogle beat out challenger Ray Cerda for Catawba County Clerk of Superior Court.
Bogle won the election with 62 percent of the vote, getting 6,676 votes, to Cerda's 4,076. She does not face a Democrat in the November election.

Bogle divulged Tuesday that this will be her last term in office, saying she doesn't plan to run for election after this four-year term is up.

Bogle took Tuesday off to campaign at the four largest precincts in the county: Startown, Highland, Springs and Balls Creek.

She said she was happy with the election, saying she and Cerda ran good campaigns. Bogle said she had an advantage, though.

"I think we both ran hard races," she said. "I had name recognition and my opponent did not. He was not able to raise enough (votes) to win. That's not to say that he won't in the future. He's gotten his name out there, now. He ran a good race, and I appreciate that."

Bogle, 64, has served as clerk of court for the past 10 years. During her tenure, she has improved the way records are stored in the office, built two private rooms so people can discuss estate matters privately with deputy clerks and has created three access terminals the public can use. In September, Bogle also switched to a new computer program to make juror information more streamlined.

Bogle has said she plans to improve the office by updating some of the technology in coming months. People with traffic citations will be able to pay online beginning in July. In September, N.C. Aware will start. Law enforcement will be able to bring up any statewide outstanding war-rants on people in the computers in their cars.

The staff in the clerk of court's office will also begin online training classes, rather than attending classes in-person across the state.

Bogle said she wanted to run for re-election because the clerk's office is undergoing significant changes.

"Every time the legislature meets, there's a new type of work we're doing," she said. "There are more complex matters. I wanted to be there to set and organize the policy."

Bogle said she also wanted to be there to help the clerk of court office transition while the court-house is expanded.