Absentee ballots for Shelby County will be handled by the county&8217;s personnel office for the June primary election.

The ballots are usually handled by the circuit clerk&8217;s office. This June, however, current Circuit Clerk Mary Harris faces a challenge for the office she&8217;s held for some time.

Harris will face fellow Republican candidate Stephanie Freeman Roulier in the June 6 primary election.

According to Probate Judge Patricia Fuhrmeister, the challenge to that office creates the need for another county office to handle the delivery and retrieval of absentee ballots.

Personnel supervisor Jennifer Ray and her staff

have been tapped to handle those ballots.

They have already received a number of calls requesting absentee applications and expect to begin mailing out ballots as soon as they are available.

Current Shelby County Sheriff Chris Curry also faces a challenge for his office from Jim Walters of Wilsonville.

Fuhrmeister said normally the appointing board for pollworkers is made up of the probate judge, the circuit clerk and the sheriff.

Because of the challenges, however, Gov. Bob Riley will appoint two others to choose Shelby County&8217;s pollworkers alongside Fuhrmeister for this election.

For information about absentee ballots, call the county personnel office at 669-3742