Incumbents Emerge Early in Local Qualifying

Editor's note: Information provided to Dallas-Hiram Patch had surveyor candidate Jon Tripcony's first name as Tom. We have corrected the error in the text below.

Many of Paulding County’s elected officials wasted no time filing their paperwork seeking reelection. But several challengers also came out of the gate quickly.

Only a handful of incumbents had not qualified for reelection as of Wednesday afternoon near the end of at the . Of those who put their names on the ballot once again, five face challengers in the July 31 primary.

Two offices have yet to see candidates qualify.

Qualifying continues all day tomorrow and until noon on Friday.

Local offices up for grabs this election year are as follows (all have qualified as Republicans).

• Sheriff — Gary Gulledge (Incumbent)
• Judge, Probate Court — Deborah Andersen (I)
• Clerk, Superior Court — Treva Shelton (I)
• Tax Commissioner — Bill Watson (I)
• Commission Chairman — David Austin (I), Tony Crowe
• County Commissioner, Post 1 — David Carmichael, Larry Ragsdale (I),
• Chief Magistrate — Dan Collins
• Coroner — Sam Clark (I), Jeff Eberhart
• Surveyor — Carlton Rakestraw (I), Jon Tripcony
• School Board District 1 — Theresa Lyons (I)
• School Board District 3 — Kim Cobb (I)
• School Board District 4 — No candidates
• School Board District 6 — No candidates
• School Board At Large — Justin Rowland, Joe Watson (I)

No Democrats qualified as of Wednesday. And only one non-partisan candidate emerged—Charles Rutland Sr., who qualified for the non-paid position of Soil and Water supervisor.