Qualifying for local, state seats will start Monday

Three County Commission seats and two on the county school board are among the positions up for grabs this year.

Candidates for local and statewide seats will qualify next week for the May 22 party primaries and nonpartisan elections.

Three Floyd County Commission seats and two on the county school board will be on the local ballot, along with the Juvenile Court judgeship.

Terms are also ending for all Georgia General Assembly representatives and senators, as well as the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state school superintendent and the commissioners of agriculture, insurance and labor.

The nonpartisan Floyd County Superior Court seats held by Chief Judge Tami Colston and Judge Billy Sparks will be decided in May. Candidates will qualify at the State Capitol along with the candidates for statewide office.

Colston is not seeking re-election. Sparks, who was appointed to the position to fill a vacancy, plans to run for his first full four-year term.

The Juvenile Court seat also is nonpartisan. Judge Greg Price and any challengers will qualify with the Floyd County Elections Office, 12 E. Fourth Ave.

The qualifying period runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until noon on Friday.

Candidates in the partisan races will qualify with their parties and the winners of the primaries will advance to the Nov. 6 general election ballot.

Locally, Republicans will sign up at the law office of David Guldenschuh, 512 E. First St. in Rome.

All five County Commission and Board of Education incumbents are Republicans and Guldenschuh said he expects them to come as a group Monday morning.

Democrats running for local seats will qualify at the Salter Law Firm, 242 N. Fifth Ave.

Amy Mendes, a vice chair with the Floyd County Democratic Party, said she expects the party to put up challengers.

The qualifying fee is 3 percent of the annual salary set for the position.

School board members earn $4,800, which puts the fee at $144. County Commission seats pay $7,200, so the fee is $216. The full-time Juvenile Court position has a salary of $124,090.59 and a qualifying fee of $3,722.72.