JACKSON COUNTY, FL (WTXL) - In Jackson County, the death of a candidate for sheriff is causing a shake-up in the primary election.
Earlier this month, Republican candidate Jerome Basford's sudden death left the right-wing without a candidate.
The race for sheriff originally included three candidates: Democrats Lou Roberts and Burt McAplin, and Republican Jerome Basford. The ballots were already printed and by law Florida voters must vote within the party they identify with on their registration. In this case, only democrats can vote in the Sheriff's race.
Election officials in Jackson County said it's a situation they have never dealt with before an that they are just going by the books.
"This has been a very unusual situation and our office and I have followed the law and through the direction of the division of elections there were provisions to do what we did," said Jackson County Supervisor of Elections Sylvia Stephens.
The Republican party was offered the opprotunity to nominate another candidate. They would have had to pay nearly $7,000 to qualify and didn't have enough time to kick off a new campaign.
