Cartersville State Senate Candidate’s Qualification in Question – Elections – Cartersville, GA Patch

The youngest of an already crowded field of candidates for State Senate District 14 may not be qualified to run for the seat vacated by Barry Loudermilk, of Cassville, who stepped down to focus on his congressional campaign.

Matt Laughridge, vice president of Terry Reid Automotive in Cartersville and self-described owner of several area businesses, held events in Cartersville and Canton earlier this month to announce his candidacy and Wednesday qualified with the Secretary of State’s office, according to its website.

But Laughridge may not meet residency requirements to run for the seat. According to the secretary of state, candidates for state senate “must be a resident of the district which he or she represents, and at the time of his or her election must have been a resident of the territory embraced within such district for at least one year preceding such time.”

Laughridge in the November 2012 county special election voted at the Kingston precinct in District 52, according to Bartow County voter records obtained by Patch.

Bartow County Elections Supervisor Joseph Kirk said Laughridge’s previous Reynolds Road address in Kingston also would not have been in the newly-created District 14 prior to last year’s reapportionment and redistricting.

The Republican—whose platform is economic growth, education and better government—in August changed his residence on file with the Bartow County Voter Registration and Elections office to a Peeples Valley Road address in Cartersville, Kirk said.

via Cartersville State Senate Candidate’s Qualification in Question – Elections – Cartersville, GA Patch.