Nearly two dozen qualified for elections

Published 8:58 pm Friday, July 8, 2016

Qualifying for August’s municipal elections has only been underway for three days, but nearly two dozen candidates in Selma and Valley Grande have already officially qualified.

In Selma, the only qualifier for mayor thus far is Rep. Darrio Melton.

In the Selma City Council races the following candidates have qualified: Carl Bowline in ward 1; Christie Thomas in ward 2; Miah Tolbert-Jackson in ward 3; Dr. Dowanda Pullom in ward 4; Johnnie Leashore and councilman Benny Tucker in ward 6; Jannie Thomas, Patricia Stewart, Debra Reeves-Howard, William Brown and Rotissa Jones in ward 7; and councilman Michael Johnson in ward 8.

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Tremayne Gorden and Lydia Chatmon qualified in the race for city council president.

The Selma City election will also include spots on the Selma City School Board, which are broken down by district. The Rev. Bailey Dawson and Dr. Kirit Chapatwala qualified in district 1; Jeffery Strong and Brenda Obomanu qualified in district 2; Lola Sewell qualified in district 3; and incumbent Dr. Udo Ufomadu qualified in district 4.

Henry Hicks qualified to defend his spot as school board chairman.

The list of Selma City qualifiers was provided by the city clerk’s office and picked up at 3 p.m. on Friday.

The Valley Grande qualification list was much shorter. As of Friday at 3 p.m., only Mayor Wayne Labbe had qualified in his quest for reelection, according to assistant city clerk Stephanie Motley.

Qualification is also underway in Orrville, but neither Orrville City Hall or Orrville mayor Louvenia Lumpkin could be reached on Friday.

Candidates will have from now through Tuesday, July 19 to sign up for office and officially qualify.

The election will be held Tuesday, Aug. 23. If needed, a runoff will be Tuesday, Oct. 4.

The last day to register to vote in the election will be Aug. 8, which is 15 days prior to the election. The last day to apply for a regular absentee ballot will be Aug. 18.