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Five candidates have officially qualified for a special election to fill the Troup County Commission seat the late Richard English held for over 40 years. Qualifying closed Aug. 25 at noon.

English was the longest-serving commissioner in Georgia when he passed away earlier this month. He’s also the only Black commissioner Troup County has ever had.

Candidates who qualified to run for the position include Kendall Butler (nonpartisan), Travis Hart (democrat), Jimmy McCamey (democrat), Norma Tucker (nonpartisan) and Ernest Ward (democrat), according to Troup County Elections Supervisor Andrew Harper.

Since this is a special election, there will not be a primary. Every candidate will run against the other candidates, and if one gets to 50.1% of the vote, then they will be the new commissioner. If no candidate reaches that number, the top vote getters will be in a run-off on Nov. 30.

The winning candidate will also be back on the ballot in 2022, as that’s when the term of the seat expires.

The election is Nov. 2.