Horton, Harden, Mauck first three candidates to qualify, with Rogers close behind on Day One of Qualifying for Local Races

 Qualifying for the four positions (two on the Board of Commissioners, two on the Board of Education) began today and continue through noon Friday at the the Board of Elections office on Water Street next to the Courthouse in downtown Watkinsville.

Two incumbents on the Board of Commissioners were among the first to re-qualify for re-nomination and probable re-election Monday Morning. Commissioners Chuck Horton and Amrey Harden were eager to sign their names and pay their qualifying fees for their second consecutive terms (although both have long and storied political careers in Oconee County). Both are retired, but remain active in many different organizations in the community, and will talk to you regardless of whether you are a Democratic partisan, a Republican participant, an independent or something else all together. 

Assuming neither get an opponent (and that seems likely even in this volatile political climate), they will both have my enthusiastic endorsement and will most likely be re-elected in what is tantamount to acclimation locally.

As I have pointed out numerous times before, the Republican nomination is generally regarded as the General Election in Oconee County (even though technically it is not) and I encourage everyone to request a Republican ballot regardless of your political affiliation in the forthcoming May 24th primary.

Another reason to do so is to keep Oconee County Schools free of people wanting to ban books. This would be the case in the Board of Education race where notorious right wing reactionary and realtor Julie Mauck is running to get her radical agenda on to local school platforms. Although she does not have an opponent who is qualified yet, she is expected to have opposition from another realtor (Elliott Rogers, who also qualified later in the day Monday) and a banker named Ryan Hammock.