The Surry County Board of Elections discovered yesterday that Jonathan Smith, 18, is not old enough to run for a county commissioners seat.

Smith announced to the general public this week his intentions to run for the central division county commissioners seat currently held by Bill Hamlin. Smith even submitted his financial paperwork to the board of elections.

“Jonathan did everything right,” said Susan Jarrell, director of the Surry County Board of Elections.

But yesterday morning when Jarrell heard a television station report that 18-year-old Smith was going to run for office, she decided to do some research online. She found that a person has to be 21 years old to run for a county office in the state of North Carolina.

“Our office should have been aware of that,” Jarrell said.

Smith said he called the office sometime last year, probably near August when he turned 18, to ask if he was old enough to run for county office. He said he was told that he was old enough, but he did not want to reveal the name of the person who gave him that information.

“I don’t want to put no names in the paper,” Smith remarked. “They feel bad enough for it ... We’re all human. Mistakes happen.”

Jarrell also said that someone in the board of election office gave Smith incorrect information. “And I apologize for that,” she said. “They did not know (the age limit).”

Jarrell said she felt bad about the mix-up. Of Smith, she said, “He is such an extraordinary young man.”

Board of election officials called Smith yesterday to inform him that he was not yet old enough to run. Jarrell said he sounded disappointed but handled it well.

Smith said, “I am disappointed. I was misinformed by the board of election, but all hope isn’t gone. I’ll be back in three years.”

Smith said he did not see an age requirement listed on the county Web site. Jarrell said they usually advise potential candidates to visit the state board of election Web site, www.sboe.state.nc.us. Smith said he was advised to go there to look for financial information. The age requirement for county office can be found in a fact sheet under the candidate filing section of the Web site. There is a separate section for campaign finance.

On Jan. 21, Smith completed an organizational report and submitted it at the board of elections office. Candidates are required to submit this financial paperwork with the board of election within 10 days of publicly declaring their intent to run for office, filing for office, or accepting donations for their campaign, unless they are going to raise less than $1,000 on their campaign. Prior to Dec. 2009, the threshold had been $3,000. The $1,000 amount includes personal contributions.

With the organizational report, Smith had to list his campaign treasurer. Smith said he has spent a lot of time since last August planning what he would do with the campaign and picking someone to be his treasurer.

“But it ain’t totally lost, because I have a name built,” Smith said.

Smith plans to spend the next few years helping other local candidates and sharing his ideas with the board of commissioners. Then he will run for county commissioner when he is legally old enough.

He said, “In my opinion, if being 18 you can serve your country in the military ... you should be able to serve your country in the political scene.”

Although Smith disagrees with the age limit, he said, “I’ve campaigned for everybody for four years, three years ain’t nothing.”

Contact Meghann Evans at mevans@mtairynews.com or 719-1952.