Deadline Passes – Candidates Qualify

The names are in for the May 6, 2014, Jefferson County Primary and, as of noon on February 20, 2014, the time to turn in qualifying paperwork has passed. While many of the candidates for the Republican and Democrat Primary qualified to be on the May ballot several weeks ago, some chose to turn in, and even pick up, petitions during the last qualifying week. Eight seats on the May ballot are unchallenged, as only the incumbents qualified for the position. Six offices will have two or more names on the ballot, come Election Day. Challenging incumbent Jefferson County Mayor Palmieri in the Republican Primary is Jefferson County Commission Chairman Mills. The winner of the primary will face Democrat Dockery, who is unchallenged in the primary, in the General Election in August. Incumbent Jefferson County Sheriff McCoig will face Kearney and Davenport in the Republican primary and the winner will go unchallenged in the General Election. Jefferson County Trustee, incumbent Ginger Franklin, will have opposition in the Republican primary from Kevin Breeden. Incumbent Judge Vance will face one opponent, Charles Scott Justice, in the Republican primary. Three candidates will be vying for retiring County Court Clerk Farrar’s seat in the Republican primary. Adderhold, Estes and Herndon have all qualified for the May 6th election. Rounding out the challenged seats for the May primary is that of General Sessions Judge. Ballew, Randolph, Repass, Roach and Scroggins are all seeking the position, which is being vacated by Judge Strand.

Candidates looking for a slot on the August County General ballot still have several weeks to pick up and return qualifying petitions. Currently Petitions for County Commission are trickling in. Fream has a petition out for District 1 and incumbents Kesterson and Maples have turned in their qualifying paperwork. In District 2, Carr, Douglas and incumbent Patterson have petitions out and incumbents Musick and Baxley have petitions out in District 3, with incumbent Tabor having already qualified. Incumbents Turner and Cureton have picked up petitions in District 4 and incumbent Solomon, as well as Griffin, Potts and Shaw, however only Solomon has qualified at this time. District 6 Riley, Clark and incumbent Blevins have picked up qualifying paperwork, though none have returned as of press date. Incumbent Scarlett has picked up a petition for District 7 and both incumbent Akard and Bales have turned in qualifying paperwork. In the 8th District, incumbents Tucker and Dockery have petitions out and Bergen has withdrawn his name from the race. District 9 incumbent Carmichael has picked up qualifying paperwork and Seal has qualified his candidacy. Three of the four candidates for District 10 have returned their qualifying paperwork, with one, Cameron, still out.

Batson and Noyes have petitions out for Highway Commission District 1 and Simpson and Condry for District 3. Potts has the lone petition out for District 1 School Board and Vines and Burton have petitions out for District 3, with Jarnigan qualifying in that district. Rice has picked up a petition for Executive Committeeman and Laughlin has returned her paperwork for Executive Committeewoman. Democrat Ramsey has turned in her paperwork for State Representative District 11.