Qualifying dates set for Albany election

ALBANY — The Dougherty County Elections office announced this week the qualifying dates for Albany’s Nov. 3 municipal election.

Mayor Dorothy Hubbard and incumbent commissioners from Ward I (Jon Howard), Ward IV (Roger Marietta) and Ward VI (Tommie Postell) will face re-election. All four have announced plans to seek another term in office, although Howard will hold his formal announcement Aug. 22.

Qualifying, which will be held in Room 220 of the downtown Government Center, will be conducted from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 31, to Friday, Sept. 4. City commission candidates must pay a $450 qualifying fee, while mayoral candidates must pay a $750 fee.

Hubbard, who is completing her first term in office, has drawn the announced opposition of dental assistant/student Tracy Taylor, who ran unsuccessfully in the 2013 Democratic primary for the District 4 Dougherty County Commission seat.

Former Albany City Commissioner Henry Mathis has announced plans to run against Hubbard if he is granted restoration of his civil and political rights by the State Board of Pardons and Paroles. Mathis was convicted of extortion in 2005.

Neither Howard, who is completing his 22nd year in office, nor Postell, who is near the end of his third term, has any announced opposition for his commission seat, although Postell said he had heard rumblings that Kowanna McKinney might challenge for the Ward VI seat. The retired educator defeated McKinney in 2011.

Businessman Chad Warbington, who serves on the Albany Utility Board and the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission, is expected to announce soon his plans to challenge Marietta for the Ward IV seat the Darton State College professor has held for the past eight years.

Additional information about the municipal election is available by calling (229) 431-3247.