MACON, Ga. — If you want to run for sheriff, for school board, for the Georgia General Assembly, even for Congress – this is your week.
Across Georgia, candidates will qualify for local, state and federal positions in this year’s elections.
Qualifying means candidates sign paperwork saying they intend to run and pay a qualifying fee.
If they meet other requirements – such as age or residency – they earn a place on the upcoming ballots.
Candidate can qualify starting Monday for hundreds of positions statewide, including:
- Every seat in Congress: That includes the seats currently held by Democrat Sanford Bishop and Republicans Rick Allen, Mike Collins and Austin Scott, who all represent parts of Central Georgia.
- Every seat in the Georgia General Assembly, including more than 20 state senate and house seats.
- Every sheriff’s job in the state – including held by David Davis in Bibb County and Cullen Talton in Houston. Davis is running again; Talton, the nation’s longest-serving sheriff, is retiring.
- Every district attorney’s post statewide. That means the jobs of Macon district attorney Anita Howard and Will Kendall in Houston County are up for grabs.
- And dozens of local and county races.
In Macon-Bibb, for example, candidates can qualify for mayor, coroner, tax commissioner, superior-court clerk, judges’ posts, all nine county commission posts, all six board of education seats, two water authority seats and more.
In Houston County, posts up for election this year include coroner, tax commissioner, superior-court clerk judges’ posts, three county commissioners, four board of education members and others.
For information on qualifying, contact your local board of elections. In Bibb and Houston, qualifying runs from 9 a.m. Monday, March 4 through noon, Friday, March 8.
Partisan races – like sheriff, district attorney and the congressional and General Assembly seats – will have party primaries on May 21 and final elections in November.
Nonpartisan races — like the Macon-Bibb mayor, county commission and school board – will have May 21 primaries and a June 18 general election.
Not on the ballot this year, however, are Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats or any statewide positions like governor.