June 27, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
The DeKalb County Election Commission has expanded and made more uniform the hours of early voting for the upcoming August 1 elections.
The early voting period begins July 12 through July 27.
Early voters may cast ballots at the courthouse in Smithville during a six-hour period on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and Tuesdays from 12 noon until 6 p.m. Early voting on Saturdays will be from 9 a.m. until 12 noon as in the past. No early voting on Sundays.
In Alexandria, early voting will take place on two dates, Tuesday July 16 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and on Tuesday, July 23 from 12 noon until 6 p.m. at the Kenneth Sandlin Center on the DeKalb County Fairgrounds.
Previously early voting periods during the week in Smithville were for four hours at a time and three hours on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the election commission has released the sample ballot for the elections on Thursday, August 1 which will include the DeKalb County General Election, Municipal Elections in Smithville, Dowelltown, and Alexandria, and the Tennessee Republican and Democratic Primaries.
The Voter Registration Deadline is Tuesday, July 2. The deadline to update an address on voter registrations is Friday, July 26.
All the local Republican nominees from the March primary will be unopposed in the DeKalb County General Election including Incumbent Assessor of Property Shannon Cantrell, Sixth district incumbent school board member Jason Miller, Fifth district school board candidate Megan Moore; Constable candidates 1st District: Tyler Cripps, 2nd District: Danny Adamson, 3rd District: Incumbent Travis Bryant, 4th District: Incumbent Lane Ball, 5th District: Incumbent Mark Milam, and 7th District: Jeremy Neal, and Judge Shawn C. Fry for the newly created Criminal Court Judge position in Part III of the seven-county 13th Judicial District.
For the county commission to fill unexpired terms, Andy Pack in the 6th district and Mathias Anderson in district 7 were recently nominated and certified as Republican candidates through the local GOP caucus process and their names will appear on the August 1 ballot.
The Smithville Municipal Election will be uncontested on August 1. The three incumbent aldermen up for re-election, Shawn Jacobs, Danny Washer, and Jessica Higgins will be running unopposed. The terms are for four years each.
Only three people qualified for the Alexandria Municipal Election ballot on August 1. In this election, the positions to be filled are for mayor (unexpired term), three aldermen, and three other aldermen (unexpired terms). Beth Tripp will run for the unexpired mayor’s term while Jeff Ford is seeking to fill an unexpired alderman term and Jonathon Tripp is running for a full alderman term. No one qualified on the ballot to run for the other positions.
No one qualified to run in the Dowelltown Municipal Election on August 1 in which a mayor and two aldermen are to be elected.
The following have filed a certificate of write-in for the following offices, but their names do not appear on the August 1 ballot:
Constable- District 6:
Keith Elkins
City of Alexandria:
Mayor
Allen Lawson
Russell “Rusty” Bradshaw
Alderman
Bobbie Ford
Robert “Bobby” Simpson
Lucas “Luke” Prichard
Curtis Rutter
The August 1 ballot will feature two State Judicial Retention questions as follows:
Shall Dwight Tarwater be retained in office as a Judge of the Supreme Court At Large or be replaced?
Shall Matthew J. Wilson be retained in office as a Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, Western Division or be replaced?
In the Tennessee Republican Primary on August 1 the candidates are as follows:
United States House of Representatives District 6: John Rose
United States Senate: Marsha Blackburn and Tres Wittum
Tennessee Senate District 16: Janice Bowling
Tennessee House of Representatives District 40: Michael Hale
In the Tennessee Democratic Primary on August 1 the candidates are as follows:
United States House of Representatives District 6: Lore Bergman, Clay Faircloth, and Cyril Focht
United States Senate: Marquita Bradshaw, Lola Denise Brown, Gloria Johnson, and Civil Miller-Watkins
Tennessee Senate District 16: Wayne Steele
Tennessee House of Representatives District 40: Daniel T. Hawthorne
State Executive Committeewoman District 16: Rupa Blackwell.