By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter

jevans@thepccourier.com

COUNTY — Races for November’s school board elections are shaping up.

This year, seats in District 1, District 3 and District 5 are up for re-election.

Filing opened Aug. 1 and will close at noon on Aug. 15. School board elections are non-partisan.

The only race with a surefire showdown at the polls is District 3, as Shannon Haskett has filed for the seat, while incumbent Alex Saitta has said he plans to run again, although he had not filed by press time Tuesday.

Betty Bagley has filed to run for the District 1 seat long occupied by Dr. Herb Cooper, who passed away last week after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Betty Garrison has filed for the District 5 seat currently held by Judy Edwards, who does not plan to run again.

Those wishing to run for school board may file at the Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Pickens County, located at 222 McDaniel Ave. in Pickens.

At the time of filing, each candidate must complete a Statement of Candidacy Form and pay the filing fee. The filing fee for school board races is $120. Checks must be made payable to the Pickens County Treasurer.

The Statement of Candidacy form can be found at the county elections office website, pickenselections.org.

Candidates are also required to file a Statement of Economic Interests and a Campaign Disclosure online with the State Ethics Commission at http://ethics.sc.gov. However, candidates are no longer required to present a copy of this to their local voter registrations and elections office when they file for office.

Failure to file the State Ethics Commission documents may result in a fine to the candidate but will not disqualify them from the election. Contact the State Ethics Commission for more information.