Floyd elections off to slow start
Challengers have yet to emerge for local incumbents, who are all seeking their second full terms.
Floyd County incumbents up for election this year haven’t prepared for much of a battle, although qualifying is less than a month away.
And, as yet, no challengers have publicly announced they’ll seek the open seats held by County Commissioners Rhonda Wallace, Larry Maxey or Scotty Hancock, or the County Board of Education posts filled by Chip Hood and Tony Daniel.
All five have said they plan to run for new terms, along with Juvenile Court Judge Greg Price — who holds the only non-appointed juvenile court judgeship in the state. None are amassing campaign chests comparable to those in the hard-fought city elections last year.
Floyd County Elections Supervisor Willie Green provided on Friday the latest financial filings, through Jan. 31. The next round of disclosures is due March 31.
Hood and Daniel submitted affidavits declaring their intention to spend no more than $2,500 in their BOE races.
State law allows the filings as a substitute for campaign finance reports as long as donations or expenses don’t exceed the cap. If they do at a later date, all activity must be reported.
For the County Commission elections, Bagby filed an affidavit while Maxey and Wallace reported funds left over from their 2014 campaigns.
Maxey had $47.58 cash on hand and Wallace had $780.95 in her account. Neither had new donations or expenses.
Unlike in the Rome city elections, none of the county incumbents have been in office long.
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Maxey and Wallace took office after special elections in mid-2012, then won their first full fouryear terms in 2014. Hancock, Daniel and Hood were first elected in 2014.
Price was appointed in 2012 to fill the unexpired term of Tim Pape, who retired. He also won his first election four years ago. Price reported a negative balance in his campaign account after spending $3,297.70 on the qualifying fee.
Qualifying
Qualifying fees are set at 3 percent of the post’s salary. County Commission candidates will be assessed $216 and school board candidates pay $144. There are provisions for fees to be waived for paupers who want to run for office.
Qualifying runs March 5-9.
The judge race is nonpartisan and will be decided in the May 22 primary. Candidates qualify at the county elections office.
The commission and school board seats are partisan and the winners of the primary will move on to the Nov. 6 general election. Candidates will qualify with the local parties at locations to be announced later.
County Commission races are decided countywide. Candidates for the Post 1 seat held by Wallace must live in the city of Rome. Candidates for Post 4 (Maxey) and Post 5 (Hancock) must live outside the city.
Only voters outside the city will be able to weigh in on the school board races, since Rome has its own school system. Candidates challenging Hood must live in District 1, representing the Armuchee and Glenwood communities. Challengers to Daniel must live in District 4, the Pepperell community.