2nd District seat now up for grabs
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McGinnis, who took second in balloting for his district and was elected along with Carl Bouldin, has declined to take the oath of office Sept. 1 due to new responsibilities in his professional career.
Specifically, McGinnis said his duties with the TBI changed after he put his name on the ballot, pressing him into longer hours and more travel. Therefore, the longtime lawmen said he feared he would not be able to give the commission job justice and it would be best to let someone else take the position.
With his recusal, the election commission has docketed the seat for election along with state and federal elections in November. Deadline to qualify for the race is noon on Sept. 13 and election officials say everyone ? even those who ran and lost in the August election ? must requalify all over again.
To qualify to run as an independent, papers must be picked up at the election office and a petition with at least 25 signatures of registered voters in the 2nd District returned by deadline. The Democrat and Republican parties can each nominate one candidate by the deadline since there will be no primary.
Among those coming up short in August were Democrat Tommy Davenport, Republicans Ervin White and Tom Brady and independent Neal Smith, the latter of whom is the only to pick up qualifying papers.
The county commission, meanwhile, has voted to leave the seat vacant as of Sept. 1 since the winner of the November election would miss only one regular meeting.