Several local residents have joined the ranks of those qualifying to run for political office with only a couple of days remaining before the deadline.

Recent additions include incumbent county commissioner Heedy Hayes, who had considered not running for a sixth term. He was first elected in 1992.

Hayes sited a lack of candidates from the northern end of the county as his main reason for running.

“It’s important to have somebody from this end of the county,” he said.

The other recent qualifiers have been Republicans wanting to run for seats on the Chilton County Board of Education.

Joe Mims, Pam Price, Jim Shannon and Gina Willis have qualified, according to Carol Harrison, chairwoman of the Chilton County Republican Party. Mims is an incumbent on the board.

The deadline to qualify is 5 p.m. Friday.

Currently, there are not more than seven commission candidates from either party, nor more than seven board of education candidates. It that remains the case, then those seats would not be on the ballot in March, instead just appearing on the General Election ballot in November.

But there’s a chance more commission candidates could emerge.

“I have several packets out, and I feel like one of them is going to fill it out,” Harrison said.

So far, no one has come forward to challenge two established incumbents: Probate Judge Bobby Martin, who switched from the Democrat to Republican party for this election; and Circuit Court Clerk Glenn McGriff, a Republican.

The Clanton Advertiser previously reported that Republicans Allen Caton, Ronnie Gilbert, Joe Headley, Tim Mims, Greg Moore, Aubrey Wallace and Shannon Welch were running for commission.

Caton, Headley, Mims and Moore are incumbents, with Mims serving as the commission chairman.

Democrats Bobby Agee—who, with 24 years is the longest serving commissioner—Robert Binion and Dwight Swindle are running for commission.

Democrats Howard Daughtery, Tommy Headley and Ann Thomas will run for board of education. Daughtery and Thomas are incumbents.

Harrison said either she or another party officer will be present from 1-5 p.m. Friday in the courtroom on the second floor of the Chilton County Courthouse, for anyone who wants to qualify for office at the last minutes. She said needed documents will be available.

“They’ll just have to come with their money,” she said.