Primary elections to be held next month
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By Christa Jennings
Senior Staff Writer
Primary elections are just under a month away, and sample ballots for the Democratic and Republican Party primaries are now available in the probate office of the Coosa County Courthouse in Rockford.
In addition to federal, state and local offices, the primaries include two statewide amendments for vote.
In Coosa County, only four offices are on the Democratic Party ballot for the primary, with none of those being local offices.
The Democratic ballot includes Will Boyd, Jamel J. Brown, Yolanda Rochelle Flowers, Doug Jones, Chad “Chig” Martin, and Nathan “Nate” Mathis for governor; Phillip Ensler and Darryl D. Perryman for lieutenant governor; Dakarai Larriett, Kyle Sweetser, Everett Wess, and Mark S. Wheeler II for U.S. senator; and James O. Gordon, John Northrop and Jeff Ramsey for Public Service Commission, Place 1.
While Northrop will appear on the ballot, he announced on Monday that he was withdrawing from the race.
The Coosa County Republican Party ballot has 11 federal and state office son the ballot, as well as three local offices that run by district.
All Coosa County voters who select the Republican primary ballot will have the following options for casting their votes: Ken McFeeters, “Alabama” Will Santivasci and Thomas Tuberville for governor; Wes Allen, Pat Bishop, George Childress, Rick Pate, Stewart Hill Tankersley, Nicole Jones Wadsworth, and John Wahl for lieutenant governor; Seth Burton, Dale Shelton Deas Jr., Jared Hudson, Steve Marshall, Barry Moore, Morgan Murphy, and Rodney Walker for U.S. senator; Case Dixon and Gary Palmer for U.S. representative, 6th Congressional District; Pamela L. Casey, Jay Mitchell and Katherine Robertson for attorney general; Caroleene Dobson, Christopher Christian Horn and Glenda S. Jackson for secretary of state; Young Boozer and Steve Lolley for state treasurer; Derek Chen and Andrew Sorrell for state auditor; Corey Hill, Christina Woerner McInnis and Jack Williams for commissioner of agriculture and industries; Matt Gentry and Jeremy H. Oden for Public Service Commission, Place 1; and Priscilla Andrews, Chris Beeker, Brent Woodall, and Jim Zig Zeigler for Public Service Commission, Place 2.
In local elections, the three offices and candidates that will appear on some Republican ballots based on district are Matthew Reams and Johnnie Schmidt for Coosa County Commission, District 4; Dillon Adams and incumbent Lamar Daugherty for Coosa County Commission, District 5; and incumbent Sharon Coffman and Kimberly D. Crowe for Coosa County Board of Education, District 4.
For the first proposed statewide amendment, the amendment, in part, reads, “…to provide that the following offenses shall be offenses for which a judge may deny bail: shooting or discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling or other occupied space in violation of Section 13A-11-61(b), Code of Alabama 1975; or any solicitation, attempt, or conspiracy to commit murder.”
Currently, a judge may only deny bail to a person charged with capital murder, murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, sexual torture, first-degree domestic violence, first-degree human trafficking, first-degree arson, first-degree robbery, terrorism, and aggravated child abuse.
If approved and passed by a majority vote, this first amendment would allow a judge to also deny bail to a person charged with solicitation, attempt, or conspiracy to commit murder, as well as allowing a judge to deny bail to a person charged with shooting or discharging a firearm, explosive, or other weapon into an occupied dwelling, building, railroad locomotive or car, aircraft, automobile, truck, or watercraft.
The second proposed statewide amendment reads, in part, “…to provide that the compensation of a district attorney may not be diminished during his or her term of office.”
The term of office for a district attorney is six years. If passed and approved by a majority vote, this amendment would ensure that a district attorney’s salary cannot be reduced during the term of office that he or she was appointed or elected to fill.
There are no costs or taxes associated with either of the two proposed statewide amendments.
The primary election will be held May 19. A primary runoff election will be held June 16, if necessary, and the general election will be held November 3.
While qualifying has ended for the major parties, those candidates who choose to not run as a political party candidate and instead choose to run as an independent still have time to qualify for office.
Independent candidates may obtain ballot access by submitting a petition to the secretary of state if seeking a state or federal office, or to the local judge of probate if seeking a county office. There is no qualifying fee to run as an independent.
For ballot access in this year’s general election, the petition must be filed no later than 5 p.m. on May 19.
An independent candidate’s ballot access petition must contain signatures of registered Alabama voters, with the number of valid signatures equal to or exceeding at least 3% of the qualified electors who cast ballots for the office of governor in the last general election in the political jurisdiction for which the independent candidate is seeking ballot access.
For countywide or county district offices, such as County Commission or Board of Education, prospective independent candidates should contact the judge of probate for the required number of signatures of registered voters. In Coosa County this can be obtained by calling Judge of Probate Richard Dean at 256-377-4919.
For federal and state district offices, prospective independent candidates should contact the Secretary of State’s Election Division at 334-242-7210 for the required number of signatures of registered voters.
For statewide offices, an independent candidate must submit a petition that contains at least 42,258 signatures of registered voters in Alabama.
For a sample petition and more information on running as an independent candidate, visit www.alabamavotes.gov.
The deadline to register to vote for the primary election in May is May 4. The last day to apply for an absentee ballot to mail is May 12, and the last day to apply for an absentee ballot in person is May 14.
May 18 is the last day to deliver an absentee ballot by hand, and absentee ballots returned by mail must be received by 12 p.m. on May 19.
For November’s general election, the last day to register to vote or update voter registration is October 19.
See page __ for this year’s voters list for Coosa County.
For more information on the upcoming elections or to check voter registration information, visit www.alabamavotes.gov or contact the Coosa County Board of Registrars at 256-377-2418.
