State Representative John Cavaletto is finding competition for his seat from an unlikely source - a 24 year-old Centralia man.

Joshua Qualls filed papers to run against Cavaletto on the Democratic ticket prior to the end of the deadline. Qualls works with the developmentally disabled at Kaskaskia Workshop in Centralia. Qualls says some major issues he wants to tackle include getting kids proper schoolbooks and improving education. "I'd like to get after school programs going for a lot of kids," he says. "I saw a statistic a few years ago that average Illinois High School Seniors didn't even have a 5th grade reading level and that's unacceptable."

He also says he'd like to see equal pay for state and private institutes who handle developmental care. When asked about age as an issue, Qualls says it could go either way and part of his goal is to get the younger generation involved in the voting process. "I've always said that if I'm old enough to die for my country, then I'm old enough to be a leader in it."

Qualls has had a busy past couple days in addition to filing for elections. His wife Nicole gave birth to a son, Michael Alexander just Monday. Qualls has been married to his wife since 2007 and was raised by his father, a baptist minister. He has a high school diploma and had a fiction book published in 2005 called "Forbidden Love."

When asked about competition for his State Representative Seat, John Cavaletto says he welcomes the challenge and encourages participation in the electoral process.