The Cary resident, who was among at least nine candidates vying to replace Rep. Ty Harrell in District 41, has dropped out of the race on a technicality: Thorne doesn't live in District 41.

Turns out Thorne -- who requested his name be added to a long list of potential replacements for Harrell to "give Cary a better seat at the table" -- lives just inside District 36, which is represented by Rep. Nelson Dollar.

The state Constitution requires that legislative candidates reside in the district they seek to represent for at least one year.

"I was surprised to learn that I didn't live within his district," said Thorne, a semi-retired designer and writer. "I got a lot of mail about his campaign when he was running for office, which is why I thought he and I were in the same district."

The same problem dogged Harrell, the Raleigh Democrat who resigned last month amid an investigation into his campaign finances.

Harrell had been living outside his district for more than a month at a friend's house, after his wife filed for divorce alleging an extramarital affair. Under state law, a person's voter registration is still valid if they move to another address for "temporary purposes only, with the intention of returning." The law gives no time limit for "temporary."

Thorne has never lived in the district. He found that out on Oct. 6, hours before he finished in a distant fourth place in the Town Council race for Cary's District A. Thorne was also a challenger in that contest, one of the Triangle's most hotly contested. He garnered just three percent of the vote among Cary residents in Wake and Chatham counties.

Thorne is now 0-for-5 in his hunt for a political seat.

He lost a previous run for the Town Council, for mayor of Wilmington and for a commissioner seat in New Hanover County.

Had he been an eligible contender, Thorne said he would have brought character to the table.

"I don't know if he was the best candidate for the job," Thorne said.

Thorne said he was concerned about how the state's current legislators balanced this year's budget and how dollars from the state's education lottery were being spent.

"It's a big job," he said. "I understand that, and I think I could have handled it."

Among the eight people still vying for the seat, Thorne pointed to three who he thinks possess the character needed for the job: Linda Gunter, a former state senator and lobbyist for N.C. Association of Educators; Gale Adcock, a current member of the Cary Town Council; and Matt Danielson, a former Wake County Democratic Party vice chair.

All three candidates also live in Cary -- and in District 41.