NA election picks up more candidates but Myrtle and Blue Springs only have one qualifier between them so far

Two more people have qualified to run for city office in New Albany but election activity in Myrtle and Blue Springs has been almost non-existent.

Jessica Winston is running for Ward Two alderman as a Democrat and Diane Jones is running for Ward Four alderman as a Republican.

At this point, only incumbents Police Chief Chris Robertson and Ward Three Alderman Kevin Dale White remain unopposed.

Ward One Alderman Amy Livingston and Ward Two Alderman Johnny Anderson announced they will not seek office again.

The deadline to qualify is at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5.

At this point, it looks like the races for chief of police and aldermen for Wards One, Three and Four will be settled in the April 6 primary because they have candidates from only one party.

By the same token, only the races for mayor, alderman-at-large and Ward Two alderman will be decided in the June 8 general election.

Here are the candidates for office in New Albany as of Thursday afternoon:

Mayor: James Dean (D), Chuck Garrett (R), Tim Kent (R)(i)

Chief of Police: Chris Robertson (R)(i)

Alderman-at-large: Keith Conlee (R)(i), J. Lynn West (I)

Ward One Alderman: Mark Bishop (R), Judith Bennett (Benjie) Foley (R), William Ashley Kidd (R)

Ward Two Alderman: David Drew Horn (R), Tim Johnson (D), Jessica Winston (D)

Ward Three Alderman: Kevin Dale White (R)(i)

Ward Four Alderman: Diane Jones (R), Ronnie Parker (R), Will Tucker (R)(i)

(D) = Democrat, (R) = Republican, (I) = Independent, (i) = incumbent

No one had qualified to run in the Town of Myrtle Thursday, although Municipal Clerk Lisa Cook said all the incumbents had picked up qualifying paperwork, but not submitted it.

In the Village of Blue Springs, only incumbent Mayor Rita Gentry had qualified and Municipal Clerk Jan Musgrove said some incumbent aldermen may not be seeking re-election at all.

Although no one has qualified, the current Myrtle mayor is Micheal Canerdy and the aldermen-at-large are Milton McDonald, Cynthia Parks, Dustin Rasberry, Teresa Smith and Sean Wiginton.

In Blue Springs, current aldermen-at-large include Shirley Allen, Rick Bradford, Lynda Bramlet, Anderew Grisham and Malcom Leath.

The aldermen in Myrtle and Blue Springs all run at large and city officials have sometime had to go out and recruit people to help fill the aldermen’s vacancies due to small size of the respective municipalities and possible lack of interest.

To run for city office one must be a qualified elector and resident of the municipality or ward, for aldermen, at least two years. Party candidates must pay a $10 fee and submit a statement of intent. Independent candidates pay no fee but need a petition signed by 50 qualified electors in support of being placed on the ballot.

The Democratic and Republican primaries will be held Tuesday, April 6, with a runoff, if needed, April 27.

The primary determines party nominees to be on the general election ballot but at this point a Democratic primary is not needed because there are no more than one candidate in any race.

Based on the past voting numbers New Albany has about 5,100 registered voters. Ward One is smallest with about 1,200 voters. Ward Four is largest with 1,400 and Wards Two and Three have between 1,250 and 1,300 voters registered. The voter turnout four years ago was low at only about 22 percent.

The general election will be Tuesday, June 8.