Memphis voters have blank ballot for state House seat; write-in will be only choice

Incumbent misses qualifying by 1 signature, later dies

Voters in Memphis will get a ballot with no choices listed for the 93rd district for the state House.

Democrat incumbent Rep. G.A. Hardaway collected 47 signatures to get onto the ballot, well over the requirement of signatures from 25 voters who live in his district.

The problem?

Only 24 signatures qualified.

The qualifying deadline was March 10, with the withdrawal deadline on March 17.

He could have run a write-in race, but the lawmaker died April 24 after a brief illness.

His son T.J. Hardaway took over the seat his father held for 19 years after being appointed by the Shelby County Commission. It was too late to qualify for the Aug. 6 primary, and he initially planned a write-in candidacy, but by September chose law school instead.

As for the Republicans, no candidate qualified for the seat.

T.J. Hardaway endorsed Kyler Gilkey as a write-in candidate, but Gilkey was later ruled ineligible to have his write-in votes counted because he had already lost a Democratic primary for another state House seat.

Five other write-in candidates qualified for the Nov. 3 election.

That means voters will have no candidate names printed on the ballot for the 93rd district and will have to write in their choice.

At least one part is simple. The 93rd is contained within Shelby County.