Gayle Chaney, independent candidate for Register of Deeds for Orange County, North Carolina, failed to gather enough signatures to get on the November ballot. The county Republican Party had been helping her petition drive, but the drive did not succeed.

In the May 6 Democratic primary, a candidate for Register of Deeds had defeated the incumbent Democrat. The winner of the Democratic primary says he will issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. No Republican had run in the Republican primary for that office, but after the surprise results in the Democratic primary, Republicans wanted to oppose the Democratic primary winner, so turned to the independent procedure to accomplish that (Chaney is a registered Republican). But, North Carolina procedures for independent candidates are so difficult, the drive failed. For non-statewide office, North Carolina independent candidates need a petition signed by 4% of the registered voters.