COLLIERVILLE (AP) — A Republican school board member and a Democratic trial attorney are competing to fill a Tennessee House seat vacated by a lawmaker who resigned amid a sexual harassment investigation.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. Thursday in the special election for the empty seat in House District 95 in suburban Memphis, which includes the Shelby County cities of Collierville and Germantown.

Kevin Vaughan, a Collierville school board member, won the Republican primary in April by 49 votes. Attorney Julie Byrd Ashworth ran unopposed in the primary on the Democratic side. Independent candidates Robert Schutt and Jim Tomasik also are in the race.

They are vying to replace Mark Lovell, a Republican who stepped down in February after allegations of inappropriate sexual contact with a woman at a legislative event.