by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The window closes today at noon for candidates vying to replace recently retired Supervisor of Elections John Stafford and eight hopefuls so far have filed with the Elections office in their pursuit of that post. But only five of them have qualified by either offering a $6,758.58 check or a petition with at least 1,200 registered voters’ signatures.
As of Monday afternoon, former Council member Gwen Yates and relative unknown Warren Jones had not yet qualified.
Former Jacksonville Community Council Inc. executive director Lois Chepenik is the sole Supervisor candidate to qualify by petition and a pair of candidates hoping to fill some soon-to-be vacated City Council seats turned over their signatures last week. Radio talk show host Andy Johnson qualified Monday.
Richard Clark and Scott Shine, both Republicans, are running for Jerry Holland’s District 3 seat. Falling short by more than 500 signatures, however, was Tim Carter. Carter is running to replace at-large Council member Faye Rustin.
According to Florida Statutes, Rustin and Holland had to resign from the Council earlier this month to run for the Supervisor job.
The qualifying period for Carter and others pursuing their seats — including developer Ronnie Fussell, Florida Coastal School of Law assistant dean Eric Smith and Mike Hancock, former Duval County Republican Party director — will run from Jan. 10 to Jan. 17.
The election for all open positions is on Feb. 15. If needed, a runoff will be held on March 29.