Incumbents filled the starting line as qualifying for the May 19 primary election got underway Monday morning.
Qualifying for the primary will take place daily from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. through Thursday, March 5 and from 9 a.m. until noon Friday, March 6.
Qualifying will be held at the Pierce County Board of Elections and Registration Office at 312 Nichols Street, Blackshear.
State Court Solicitor Adam Ferrell, County Chairman Neal Bennett and District Four Commissioner David Lowman all qualified to run for the Republican nomination for their respective seats this year.
Ferrell and Bennett are currently completing their third terms in office, while Lowman is completing his second term.
Current District Two Commissioner Graham Raley has previously announced he will not run for re-election since he will be moving out of his district later this year.
No one has qualified for the seat by The Times deadline this week.
Qualifying fees are $1,114.53 for solicitor, $540 for county chairman and $187.56 for commission seats 2 and 4. The qualifying fees are based on a percentage of the annual salaries for the respective jobs.
Qualifying fees for the county commission seats are also based on the longevity of the incumbent.
Non-partisan races are state court judge and BOE chairman and districts two and four on the school board.
State Court Judge Dan Bennett Jr., BOE Chairman Duward Boatright and Perry Tison (District 2) and Wendy Puryear (District 4) have all qualified to run for re-election in the non-partisan primary, also in May.
Bennett is completing his third term on the state court bench.
Boatright has served as school board chairman since the resignation of Linda Zechmann in 2020. Zechmann moved out-of-state leaving the vacancy. Boatright was elected to a full term in his own right in 2022 and announced his re-election campaign last week.
Tison was appointed in 2024 to fill the unexpired term of the Rev. Mitch Hall. Hall resigned when he moved out of his district. Puryear was appointed to fill Boatright’s seat when he became chairman in 2020. Boatright previously represented district four. Puryear was elected to a full, four-year term in 2022.
Qualifying fees for state court judge are $1,202.52 and chairman of the Board of Education are $180. Qualifying fees for the school board’s district two and four seats are $126.
A number of statewide, district and federal offices will also be up for election including Governor, Lt. Governor and all statewide constitutional offices, U.S. Senate, First District U.S. Congress and District attorney and Superior Court judgeships.
Early voting will be from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. April 27-May 15, at the elections office at 312 Nichols Street. Saturday voting will be held from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. May 2 and 9.
Polls will be open election day from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday, May 19. Deadline to register to vote is April 20.
A run-off election, if necessary, will take place Tuesday, June 16.
If there are partisan candidates in both primaries, those races will be decided as part of the general election Tuesday, Nov. 3.
