The Brevard County Supervisor of Elections lists the qualifying period as Aug. 2 through Aug. 11, 2026. The period was active Aug. 9, leaving candidates until the listed closing date to complete the qualification process.

The election office’s candidate-information page identifies Palm Bay municipal contests and includes Palm Bay council-seat information and a Palm Bay address. The page establishes the election dates but does not identify a final list of qualified candidates.

What happens next

Aug. 11 is the next key date for Palm Bay’s municipal election process. After qualifying closes, the Aug. 18 primary will determine the next stage of the council-seat contests. The primary is a local municipal election, not a general election.

The qualifying deadline matters because it determines which candidates can appear in the city’s upcoming contests. The Brevard County Supervisor of Elections is providing the official schedule for the 2026 local election cycle.

The county election office lists active qualifying periods for Districts 2, 4 and 6. All three periods began July 30, 2026, and the listed deadline for each is Aug. 13. That date is the next major milestone for Melbourne residents tracking which candidates may continue through the 2026 municipal election process.

Who is listed in each district

For District 2, the election office lists Leigh Alexander Hinton and Milo Matthew Zonka as announced candidates. The qualifying window shown for the district runs from July 30 through Aug. 13.

District 4 has the same qualifying period. Rachael Bassett is listed as an announced candidate for that district.

For District 6, the page lists Hunter Benninger as an announced candidate and shows the same July 30–Aug. 13 window.

The county page’s wording is important. It describes the people listed as “announced candidates,” rather than stating that each person has completed every filing requirement. The page also does not establish whether additional candidates filed after its last update.

What the Aug. 13 deadline means

Qualifying is the filing step that determines who can move forward in a municipal race. Until the qualifying period closes and the election office confirms the final filing status, the listed candidates should not be described as formally qualified, elected or unopposed.

For voters, the immediate practical consequence is a firm date to watch. The three Melbourne City Council contests identified by the county are moving through the same qualifying schedule, with Aug. 13 serving as the listed filing deadline for Districts 2, 4 and 6.

The source packet does not provide a final certified candidate list, filing totals, an election date or election results. Those details cannot be determined from the current listing. The next known step is the close of the qualifying windows, followed by confirmation of the final status of the candidates and races.

Melbourne races are listed separately

The county election office distinguishes the City of Melbourne contests from municipal races in nearby places, including Melbourne Beach and Melbourne Village. West Melbourne is also a separate municipality. The distinctions matter because candidate information for those cities does not establish who is running for Melbourne City Council.

The City of Melbourne’s news page has also included election-related reminders about political signs. That city information indicates that municipal political activity is underway, but it does not replace the county election office’s candidate and qualifying information or provide a final candidate list.

For now, the county’s official listing identifies three Melbourne council districts with active qualifying periods and six announced candidates across those districts: two in District 2, one in District 4 and one in District 6. The field remains subject to the close of qualifying and any subsequent election-office confirmation.

Gov. Kay Ivey announced what her office described as a court victory in Alabama’s redistricting battle on May 12, 2026. In the same announcement, Ivey called a special election using the Alabama-drawn congressional map.

Qualifying for independent and minor-party candidates closes Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 5:00 p.m. That deadline is the next concrete point for candidates and voters in a dispute that has continued through federal-court proceedings and state election preparations.

What the deadline means

The qualifying cutoff determines which independent and minor-party candidates may enter the special congressional election. It does not, by itself, establish that any candidate has qualified, and the approved sources do not identify a final candidate list.

The deadline also does not mean the legal fight over Alabama’s congressional districts is finally settled. The supplied source packet says litigation continues and cautions that the current status of every court appeal has not been established.

Ivey’s May 12 announcement characterized the court development as a major victory. The approved sources do not provide the controlling court order or its precise legal holding, so that description should be understood as the governor’s characterization rather than a complete account of the ruling.

Election preparations

The Alabama Secretary of State’s office has separately published election notices and voter-registration information connected to the 2026 special primary. Its newsroom also says the office remains in contact with the governor’s office regarding the congressional-map litigation.

Those notices give residents and prospective candidates an official place to monitor election-related information as the qualifying deadline approaches. They also show that election administration is moving forward even as questions about the congressional boundaries remain part of the continuing legal dispute.

The governor’s announcement concerns a special election tied to the Alabama-drawn congressional map. The Secretary of State’s election materials concern the 2026 special primary and registration information. These are scheduled election-related actions, not proof that all litigation has ended or that the map cannot change.

What remains unknown

The approved sources do not establish the final date of the special election. They also do not establish the current status of every appeal in the redistricting case. As a result, Alabama residents can identify the Aug. 11 qualifying deadline, but they do not yet have a complete election calendar from the supplied material.

The immediate practical question for candidates is whether they meet the requirements and submit qualifying materials by 5:00 p.m. on Aug. 11. For voters, the next step is to follow official notices from the Secretary of State’s office for registration information, the special-primary process and later election details.

The development leaves Alabama’s congressional map at the center of both election administration and ongoing litigation. Ivey has ordered the special-election process to proceed under the Alabama-drawn map described in her announcement, while the legal status of the boundaries and any remaining appeals requires further confirmation from the court record.

Until that record and a final election schedule are available, the clearest confirmed date is the independent and minor-party qualifying deadline: Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

The new process was established by Act 7 of the 2026 legislative session after Louisiana’s congressional map changed following federal litigation. The prior House races were canceled rather than simply moved to a new date.

The qualification period opens Aug. 5 and closes at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 7. The Louisiana Secretary of State’s office has said candidates for the representative races and other Nov. 3 offices will qualify at the Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge.

New ballot and qualification rules

The affected U.S. House contests will be placed on Louisiana’s Nov. 3, 2026, open-primary ballot under the new election process. The change affects candidates across the state’s congressional districts and requires election officials, campaigns and voters to work from a revised calendar.

Under the process, a candidate may qualify either by paying the required qualifying fee or by submitting a nominating petition. For candidates using a petition, Act 7 reduced the signature requirement to 250 qualified voters from anywhere in Louisiana.

Petitions must be submitted by July 9, before the Aug. 5-7 candidate qualification period. The petition option does not require the 250 qualified voters to come from a single congressional district, according to the Secretary of State’s explanation of the new rules.

The Secretary of State’s office also said it will refund the state portion of qualifying fees paid for the canceled elections. The notice does not describe that as a refund of all fees that may have been paid.

What changed

The revised schedule follows changes to Louisiana’s congressional map in the wake of federal litigation. The map change led to a reset of the House election calendar, with the previously scheduled races suspended and then canceled.

Act 7 created the replacement qualification and fall-election process for the House races. The November contest is an open primary, not the earlier set of House contests that had been scheduled before the calendar was changed.

As of Aug. 2, before qualifying opened, the final candidate field was not available. It will not be known which districts have contested House races until the qualification period closes at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 7.

What voters and candidates should watch

For candidates, the immediate deadlines are July 9 for nominating petitions and Aug. 7 for qualification. Candidates who plan to pay a qualifying fee instead of filing a petition still must complete qualification during the Aug. 5-7 window.

For voters, the next scheduled date for these House contests is the Nov. 3 open primary. The Secretary of State’s office directs voters to GeauxVote for updated election information, registration details, sample ballots and election dates.

The new calendar is in place for the 2026 House races, but map-related litigation and legal issues may continue to affect congressional election administration. The available information does not establish that all legal questions surrounding the map or election process have been resolved.

The Mississippi Secretary of State’s 2026-2027 Elections Division Calendar sets Aug. 3 as the primary date. It schedules Aug. 31 for a primary runoff, if one is needed, and Nov. 3 for the general election.

The primary is the scheduled election-stage at which party nominations are at stake for offices covered by the calendar. For voters and candidates, the Aug. 3 election is the next listed statewide date, followed by the conditional runoff date and then the November general election.

Offices covered by the election calendar

The calendar identifies statewide contests for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor, attorney general, treasurer, insurance commissioner, and commissioner of agriculture and commerce.

It also identifies legislative, judicial and local offices as part of the 2026 election cycle. That means the election schedule extends beyond the statewide executive posts, although the official materials do not provide a complete race-by-race account of which contests are on every voter’s ballot.

The calendar’s inclusion of an office is not a finding that every contest for that office is contested in a primary. The materials supplied by the Secretary of State’s office do not state how many races have more than one candidate.

Nor does the schedule identify nominees, winners, vote totals or turnout. Those matters are not established by an election calendar, and no results should be inferred from the dates alone.

Runoff remains conditional

Aug. 31 is reserved on the state calendar for a primary runoff. Whether a particular contest advances to that date will depend on official results from the Aug. 3 primary.

The existence of a runoff date does not mean that a runoff will occur in every race, or in any particular statewide, legislative, judicial or local contest. The approved official material does not identify races expected to require one.

After the primary and any required runoff, the statewide calendar lists the general election for Nov. 3. That date is the next scheduled election in the sequence after the August contests are resolved.

Qualifying period began July 21

The Secretary of State’s office reported that the 2026 candidate qualifying period began July 21. That marked the start of the qualifying period ahead of the Aug. 3 primary date shown on the statewide calendar.

The materials do not provide candidate-by-candidate qualifying information, a full candidate list, or a count of contested races. They also do not provide polling locations, voting hours or turnout estimates.

For now, the confirmed dates are Aug. 3 for the primary, Aug. 31 for any needed primary runoff, and Nov. 3 for the general election. Results from the primary will determine whether individual contests proceed to the runoff stage.

The calendar therefore provides the framework for the election cycle, while leaving unresolved the central race-specific questions that can only be answered through candidate filings and official election results.