MOULTRIE, Ga. — Qualifying for Colquitt County Commission and School Board positions opens on Monday for candidates seeking office in the May 22 primary for partisan races and election for nonpartisan ones.

One of the races up for election is the District 1 County Commission seat, left vacant by the death of Luke Strong Jr. in September.

Early voting is currently under way to fill the remainder of Strong’s current term. That term expires at the end of this year. Seven candidates have qualified in the special election, which will be held March 20. If none of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the two with the most votes will face a runoff, scheduled for April 17.

The qualifying period next week is for a term that starts in January 2019 and continues for four years.

Other Colquitt County Commission seats up for election are District 3, currently held by Marc DeMott, and District 5, currently held by Paul Nagy.

The qualifying fee for those commission races is $126.

The chairmanship of the commission, currently held by Terry Clark, also is up for election as the District 7 at-large seat. The qualifying fee is $144.

Those races are partisan — which means candidates compete within their party on May 22 and the winners from each party face each other in the November general election.

School board elections, by contrast, are nonpartisan, which means whoever wins May 22 (or in a runoff if necessary) wins the seat.

Up for election are School Board Districts 1, 4 and 5. Those positions currently are held by Trudie Hill, Robby Pitts and Patricia Anderson, respectively. Qualifying fees for each of them is $234.

Also on the May ballot will be the nonpartisan election for chief magistrate judge, currently held by J.J. McMillan. The qualifying fee is $1,690.57.

Qualifying will be held from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon on Friday at the Colquitt County Probate Court office on the first floor of the Colquitt County Courthouse.

Qualifying fees are set at 3 percent of the annual salary of elected offices.