Any eligible person who wants to file qualify papers to seek the office of Tallahatchie County prosecuting attorney or justice court judge in the county's 1st Judicial District may now do so, Tallahatchie County Circuit Clerk Daphane Neal told The Sun-Sentinel Friday morning.
Neal said her office had just received the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors' order setting special elections for the two seats, signaling the opening of the candidate qualifying period.
The deadline to qualify for prosecuting attorney and justice judge in the 1st Judicial District is Thursday, Sept. 5, at 5 p.m. The offices will appear on Nov. 5 general election ballots.
Qualifying papers are available at Neal's offices in Charleston and Sumner. For more information, contact the Charleston office at 662-647-8758 or the Sumner office at 662-375-8515.
Supervisors ordered the elections on Monday after appointing Lance Dahl Tennyson, 34, to serve as interim county prosecuting attorney and Shannon van der Poel, also 34, as interim justice court judge in the 1st District.
Tennyson succeeds Carol Jones Turner, now Carol Turner Felty, 48, who placed her license to practice law on inactive status with The Mississippi Bar effective June 27.
To serve as county prosecuting attorney, a lawyer must be an active-status licensed, practicing attorney in good standing with The Mississippi Bar. Felty had served two terms as county prosecutor and ran unopposed last year to win a third term starting in January.
Tennyson had served as justice judge in the 1st Judicial District at Charleston since January after winning the post in the 2023 elections following the retirement of longtime judge Steve Ross.
Van der Poel served as a clerk under Ross and had continued in that position under Tennyson, against whom she waged an unsuccessful campaign to succeed Ross in the 2023 Democratic Primary.
The qualifying period has been underway for four other elected positions in the county, two of which — constable in the 2nd Judicial District, and a West Tallahatchie School District Board of Trustees seat in Education District 3 — will be decided by special election in November. The qualifying period for those seats opened on July 1 and will also close Sept. 5 at 5 p.m.
Two regularly scheduled school board elections will also appear on the general election ballots of some voters: the Education District 4 seat on the West Tallahatchie school board presently held by Sharon E. Jackson-Bailey, and the Education District 9 seat on the East Tallahatchie school board filled by Darrell W. Neal. Under state law, qualifying for those two posts opened Aug. 7 and will close at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 6.
School board members serve staggered five-year terms, with one seat in each district coming up for election every fall.
