Jamal Willis qualifies as candidate

The Pike County Board of Elections recently announced that Jamal Willis received more than the required 671 signatures and was certified as a candidate for the upcoming sheriff’s election. He will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot as an independent candidate.

Pike’s elections supervisor David Neyhart said Willis received 770 signatures and the office was required to verify each signature of the registered voters which meant finding the person in the system and validating each signature individually.

“This is the first big petition in years,” said Neyhart. “But it’s not the only one. We normally have a petition from the Soil and Water Conservation office which only requires 25 names be verified each presidential election.”