Voters will choose Debra Matthews’ school board replacement during the general election on Nov. 4, Hamilton County elections officials confirmed Tuesday.

According to Tennessee Code, the now-vacant District 4 seat on the Hamilton County Board of Education does not require a special election and simply can be placed on the Nov. 4 regular ballot.

“I have conferred with attorneys locally and in state,” said Charlotte Mullis-Morgan, chief deputy of the Hamilton County Election Commission. “Everybody’s in compliance with it. This is just how it has to be.”

Mrs. Mullis-Morgan said she has received no calls about the position, and no one has turned in a petition to run for the office.

Interested candidates can pick up paperwork now and must turn it back in to the election commission by noon on Sept. 10, she said.

Gregg Juster, who gave Ms. Matthews her strongest competition during the recent campaign, said he still wants to see improvement in the downtown schools in District 4 but isn’t sure whether he is ready to invest in another election.

“If I do something, it’s going to be done at full tilt,” he said. “My wife knows how much it’s going to disrupt our lives — the calls coming in, the things I’m going to have to do.”

Mr. Juster, who returns from vacation today, said he planned to talk with his wife, Dee Dee, and with supporters this week to see what they think about him running again.

“I’ll get home and figure out what I want to do,” he said Tuesday. “It’s too early for me to say.”

Kenneth Simpson, who also ran against Ms. Matthews but withdrew his candidacy in May, said he wanted to wait until after Ms. Matthews’ funeral before thinking about whether he would pursue replacing her.

“Out of respect to Debra and the family, I haven’t even given it much thought,” he said.

Ms. Matthews, who represented nine downtown schools since 1998 in neighborhoods such as Alton Park, Bushtown and Avondale, died Sunday at Memorial Hospital. Her family has said they are unsure of her exact cause of death, but that she went into the hospital about a week ago for a “flulike illness.”

For years Ms. Matthews, a diabetic, had suffered from health problems including blood clots, dialysis and heart and back surgeries.

The funeral service for Ms. Matthews is scheduled for Thursday at noon at Second Missionary Baptist Church on East Third Street. Visitation is today from 6 to 8 p.m. at Hardwick and Sons Funeral Home on M.L. King Boulevard.

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