This past Saturday, the Chattooga County Republican Party held a closed-door vetting session, in which they essentially “pre-qualified” candidates for office.  According to the local Republican Party, they passed a measure that established a five-person board to determine if potential candidates were “conservative” enough to be put on the ballot for the voters of Chattooga County to vote on in the May 2024 Primary.

On Saturday, that committee met and vetted prospective candidates at the Summerville Senior Center.  The party had advertised in last week’s local newspaper that the public and the media were barred from their vetting process.  Presumably, even members of the local Republican Party, who were not candidates or on the selected committee, were not allowed to attend either.

Candidates who were interviewed, told WZQZ News that the committee’s results would be forwarded to Chattooga County Election Superintendent, Judge Gary Woods and he would announce the candidates who were approved by the committee today. WZQZ News spoke with Judge Woods who said that to his knowledge, there was no appeals process put in place by the local party for a candidate who might not have been approved during the closed-door vetting process. Judge Woods said that he would assume that anyone wanting to appeal the process would have to take the matter to Chattooga County Superior Court.