Three were partisan candidates qualifying in the Republican Primary, and one incumbent Democrat also qualified. Two candidates in the non-partisan races also qualified.
Today will be the final qualifying day, with sign up from 9 a.m. to noon at the Carroll County Election Office, 423 College St., Carrollton.
Carrol County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Chappell has Republican competition from Carrollton businessman Marty Smith, who qualified Thursday.
Smith, 48, is making his first run for a public office, saying he wants to bring a “new level of energy” and unity to the board of commissioners.
Smith grew up in Carroll County and graduated from Carrollton High School in 1982. He attended University of West Georgia and graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in management.
After college, he managed a local auto parts store for a year and spend three years working with his brother in a joint venture business in Gaston, S.C. While in South Carolina, he and his family contracted with CSX Railroad and for three years maintained gondola rail cars that serviced the eastern seaboard.
Chappell came to office in 2007 in a special election to fill the unexpired term of former chairman Robert Barr, who resigned amid political unrest over budget shortfalls and a dramatic increase in employee insurance premiums. Chappell was elected to a full four-year term in 2008.
Before running for office, Chappell was publisher of The Carroll Star News, a weekly newspaper he founded in 1995.
Other candidates qualifying Thursday:
• District 1 incumbent Democratic county Commissioner Trent North, an education administrator.
• District 3 incumbent Republican county Commissioner Ashley Smith-Hendrix, a poultry grower, who will face Republican opposition from Tommy Lee, a Carrollton general contractor, who qualified Wednesday.
• District 5 incumbent Republican county Commissioner Kevin Jackson, a journeyman lineman for Carroll EMC, qualified Thursday. He faces Republican opposition from Slade Jenkins, a Roopville electrical worker, who qualified Wednesday.
Qualifying in the nonpartisan races:
• District 1 incumbent Carroll County School Board member Bernice Bailey Brooks, a retired principal, faces opposition from Robert Cleveland, a Villa Rica resident and teacher and coach in the Douglas County School System, who qualified Wednesday.
• District 3 county school board candidate Robert D. Pinckney, a retired educator, qualified Thursday. He is opposing incumbent Christopher Gammon, a Villa Rica human resources manager, who qualified Wednesday.
No new candidates qualified in the coroner’s race Thursday.
Incumbent Coroner Samuel H. Eady, who announced earlier this year he would seek re-election, filed his paperwork Wednesday in the Republican Primary contest. This is his first time on the GOP ticket, having served six previous terms as a Democrat. Jamie K. Godbee, former deputy and grading and pipe contractor, also qualified Wednesday for coroner in the Republican primary.
A Democratic coroner candidate, LaDonna Fryar, who lost to Eady by only 60 votes in the 2008 Democratic primary, has announced plans to again run on the Democratic ticket, but had not filed for qualification by the end of the day Thursday.
Other candidates qualifying in the Republican Primary on Wednesday included incumbent Tax Commissioner Vickie Bearden, incumbent Sheriff Terry Langley and incumbent Clerk of Court Alan J. Lee, all without opposition.
Other candidates who qualified Wednesday in non-partisan contests and so far have no opposition include:
• incumbent Probate Judge Betty B. Cason;
• incumbent Chief Magistrate Alton Parker Johnson;
• incumbent Solicitor Doug Vassy;
• incumbent State Court Judge Robert H. Sullivan;
• incumbent District 6 School Board member Bart M. Carter;
• and incumbent District 4 County School Board member Denise Askin Pate.
In state races, where candidates qualify at the secretary of state office in Atlanta, incumbent Republican state Sens. Mike Crane, Newnan, District 28, and Bill Hamrick, Carrollton, District 30, have qualified and so far are unopposed.
All incumbent local Republican State House members have qualified, including Kevin Cooke, Carrollton, District 18; Dustin Hightower, Carrollton, District 68; and Randy Nix, LaGrange, District 69. None face any Republican opposition so far.
Two Democrats have qualified in House District 69. They are Herbert Giles of Carrollton, a courier; and Mike Smith of LaGrange, an attorney.
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