May 30, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Contested races for county and city mayor, write-in candidates in Alexandria, and nine candidates for governor highlight the ballot for the August 2 elections.
Elections are scheduled in all four of the county’s cities with the mayor’s race contested in three of those towns, including a ballot of mayoral write-in candidates in Alexandria. In addition the county mayor’s race is contested along with the race for sheriff, road superintendent, circuit court clerk and all seven county commission seats. One of three school board seats will also be contested. State primary elections are set for Governor, U.S. Senate, Congress in the 6th district, Tennessee Senate District 17, Tennessee House 40 and 46 and each party’s state executive committee positions.
Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley said his office is gearing up for a busy summer in preparation for all the August elections.
“Letters have already been sent to Smithville property rights voters and we should have an official ballot we can send out in the very near future,” Stanley said. “Smithville property rights voters can only vote in the city race by paper ballots and this, of course, has no impact on their voting early or at the polls in the county general and state primary elections.”
In addition, Stanley said the deadline to be a “write-in” candidate for any of the local races is Noon June 13.
“We already have two-write in candidates for mayor in Alexandria and two write-in candidates for aldermen in Alexandria,” Stanley said. The mayor candidates are incumbent Bennett Armstrong and challenger Donna Davis. The other write-in candidates are Shane Blair, an incumbent, for a full four-year term and Bridgette Rogers, for a two-year term that fills a vacancy.
Stanley said a complete official ballot will be available in the coming days and will be published at www.dekalbelections.com and on wjle.com.
Meanwhile, early voting in the August elections is set for July 13 through July 28 (with exact hours to be announced later). The last day to register to vote is July 3 and that applies also to property rights voters.