By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

A special election has been set for Aug. 20 to fill the vacant seat in the Alabama House of Representatives for District 42.

This was the position held by Rep. Jimmy Martin. Martin died on May 31 after a battle with cancer. He had served in the legislature from 1998-2010 and from 2014-2019.

Qualifying for the Aug. 20 primary race began June 10, according to a proclamation by Gov. Kay Ivey.

Potential Democrat or Republican candidates need to contact the state level of the respective party to complete the necessary paperwork.

Candidates for these major parties must complete the qualifying process by June 18 at 5 p.m.

Alan Childress, Chilton County Republican Party chairman, notified members of the local party of the opportunity via email on June 10.

“Anyone interested in running for this position must qualify with ALGOP at the headquarters located at 3505 Lorna Road, Birmingham, AL 35216. ALGOP’s telephone number is (205) 212-5900. ALGOP’s website is https://algop.org,” Childress wrote.

Although candidates must qualify with the state level of the party, Childress said he was available to answer questions for potential Republican candidates.

Democrat Party candidates can download necessary qualifying documents from aldemocrats.org/resource/candidate_qualifying and deliver them to 501 Adams Avenue in Montgomery.

Independent candidates and those in minor parties have until Aug. 20 to qualify as a candidate with the Secretary of State.

The fee to qualify as a candidate is 2% of the annual salary of $925.14 for the position.

The state proclamation for the special election states that if either of the major parties needs to have a runoff election to determine a candidate. It will be held on Nov. 5.

If a runoff election is unnecessary, then Nov. 5 will be the general election.

If a runoff election is held on Nov. 5, then the general election will be held on Jan. 21, 2020.