By Brittany Woodby
Campaign signs are dotting the sides of highways though Gov. Bob Riley’s office has yet to announce a date for the special election to choose a new District 12 state representative.
“It is the governor’s responsiblity to set the date for the election,” Cullman County Probate Judge Leah Patterson Lust said. “We’ve called the Secretary of State’s office repeatedly and there has been no change.”
More than three weeks have passed since former District 12 State Rep. Neal Morrison announced his resignation from office to take the interim presidency at Bevill State Community College in Sumiton. Regular legislative session is set to begin Feb. 4, 2008. However, Lust said Cullman’s candidates will have to pass through primary election and the special election in order to take his or her place in Montgomery.
“There will absolutely have to be a primary election,” she said. “As of right now three people on each ticket have expressed a desire to run, and one person still has to get 50 percent of the vote plus one.”
Candidates will then need time to campaign between winning the primary and going to the special election.
“It’s a good long process,” she said. “We have to get poll workers lined up and, in all honesty, we can’t work on (the election) until we have a date.”
Lust said the Code of Alabama specifies the same rules apply to special elections as they do for regularly scheduled elections and the state will incur all the costs.
There is no cut-off date for candidates to declare their eligibility for the election. Lust said each candidate must fill out paperwork and be approved by the state offices in Montgomery before being officially entered on the ballot. However, she said those who are certain they want to run for the office are permitted to get his or her name out to the public.
“I’ve heard a lot of people expressing their desires to run for office, but at this point everything is on hold,” she said. “It is fine for candidates to go ahead and start circulating and meeting the public. That’s always a good idea early on in an election.”
Even though there are still unanswered questions about the special election and District 12’s representation, Lust said the probate office will notify the public as soon as information is made available.
