Cherokee County School Board candidates can start filing May 30 to run for office.

The 2-week filing period for the school board will end June 13. The general election will be held Tuesday, Aug. 12. If runoff elections are necessary, they would be held Aug. 26.

School board chairman Donnie Lee Smith is up for re-election along with board members Sandra Greene, Willie Crosby and Billy Blackwell.

County voters will elect a new school board member for the District 8 seat held for 15 years by Ola Copeland. There were 13 months left on Copeland's term when the former school board chairman died last October.

This year's Aug. 12 election date meant Copeland's remaining school board term fell outside the 10- month time period required to hold a special election, Cherokee County Election Commission executive director Suzanne Turner said. The school board is operating with eight members until the August election.

"This election will be a little easier for us because we won't have any split school board precincts like we've had in the past," Turner said.

State lawmakers approved a law last summer to move the school board elections from November to August.

Another change requires school board candidates receive a majority of the vote to be elected. Previous elections only required a school board candidate to receive the most votes in order to win a school board seat.