After the long weekend’s celebratory fireworks, the next political season will begin to make noise as qualifying opens on Tuesday for county and state offices.
Qualifying will run through 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the Circuit Clerk’s Office. The time frame is a month shorter than it was in the past.
Another change candidates face this year is a requirement to provide proof of residency of two years at the time of qualifying. Circuit Clerk Crystal Starling wants all qualifiers to be prepared with paperwork in hand when they visit her office.
“The election commissioners are requesting two proofs of residency,” she said. “Some of the easiest ones would be homestead, utility bills and paycheck stubs.”
Items need to be dated two years prior to the general election date of Nov. 7, 2023.
The two-year residency requirement is new for all county offices and is among a large number of Mississippi election law tweaks in recent years.
Starling said calls and questions have been picking up as the qualifying period approaches. The countywide offices to be decided in 2023 include sheriff, chancery clerk, circuit clerk, tax assessor, tax collector, coroner and county attorney. The county district offices to be decided include the five supervisors, the two justice court judges, the two constables, and election commissioner for District 2 and District 4.
A special election to fill the District 5 election commissioner vacancy is also on the 2023 ballot with a qualifying deadline of Sept. 9.
Election commissioners are switching to a staggered election schedule. The District 2 and 4 commissioners will have served a term of three years. Previously, all five appeared on the ballot in the presidential election years.
Starling also wants to remind the public that candidates who run as independents do now pay a qualifying fee – a change that preceded the last county and state elections in 2019.
State offices to be decided include governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, auditor, treasurer, commissioner of insurance, and commissioner of agriculture and commerce. State district offices to be decided include district attorney, transportation commissioners and public service commissioners.
Mississippians will also elect senators and representatives to the state Legislature.
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