Early voting begins April 15
Polling locations open through April 30 in Clinton, Oak Ridge, Norris
The Anderson County government office on Andersonville Highway in Norris is one of three early-voting sites for the May 5 county primary election. Early voting begins Wednesday, April 15. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The primary includes Republicans and Democrats seeking spots on the Aug. 6 general election ballot.
Three locations are provided for early voting:
• Anderson County Fair Association building, 218 Nave St., Clinton.
• Midtown Community Center, 102 Robertsville Road, Oak Ridge.
• Anderson County Government Offices, Anderson Crossing Shopping Center (Norris/Andersonville), 3324 Andersonville Highway, next door to Anderson Crossing Pharmacy.
Early voting hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. until noon Saturday.
Deadline to register to vote in the May 5 primary was this past Monday (April 6).
The biggest races in the primary are for the Republican nominations for county mayor and county sheriff, with two candidates running for each seat.
With only two candidates running for county mayor, both as Republicans, the May 5 GOP primary is expected to decide the winner — either the incumbent, Terry Frank, or the challenger, District 3 County Commissioner Joshua Anderson.
Qualifying deadline was Feb. 19 for the May 5 primary, and any candidates wanting to run as independents in the partisan positions — including the countywide positions such as mayor, sheriff and others, and the County Commission and county Board of Education — in the Aug. 6 general election. But this early voting period is for the May 5 primary races only.
County Sheriff Russell Barker has a single opponent in the GOP primary, David G. Davis.
No one is running for sheriff in the Democratic primary, but there is an independent candidate — Colt Jennings — whose name will show up only on the Aug. 6 ballot.
Jennings will face the winner of the Republican primary in the Aug. 6 election.
There are at least two candidates who qualified to run in all eight County Commission districts, for the two available seats in each district. Commissioners serve four-year terms.
Three candidates for County Commission who initially filed to run as Republicans changed their petitions to run instead as independents — Tina Graham Targonski, for District 2, Tracy Wandell for District 1, and Kevin Craig, for District 7. Their names will appear only on the Aug. 6 ballot.
Only the incumbents qualified to run for the other five countywide positions, all in the Republican primary.
They are Rex Lynch for Circuit Court clerk, Regina Copeland for county trustee, Jeff Cole for county clerk, Tim Shelton for register of deeds, and Gary Long for road superintendent.
Property Assessor John Alley’s position is not on this year’s ballot, nor are any of the judgeships.
Four of the eight county School Board district seats are up for election this year, for a four-year term.
The open seats are in School Board Districts,1, 2, 6 and 7.
Candidates have qualified for all four of the open seats, but three candidates – in Districts 1, 6 and 7 – are running as independents and will be only on the general election ballot on Aug. 6.
Districts 1 and 2 have one candidate each running unopposed in the Republican primary May 5.
Candidates began filing for the various county positions when registration officially opened Dec. 22.
Frank was the first candidate for any county office to pick up and file a petition to run, seeking re-election to the post she has held since Sept. 1, 2012. The mayor serves a four-year term, but Frank was initially elected to fill out the two years remaining on the term of her predecessor, who resigned mid-term. She was re-elected to four-year terms in 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Candidates who have qualified for County Commission in the primary (two seats open per district) are:
• District 1 – Chad McNabb (R), Raymond Neil Phillips (R).
• District 2 – Michael Y. Foster (R), Denise Palmer (R), Ronald C. Meredith Jr. (R).
• District 3 – Shannon Gray (R), Shelley Vandagriff (R), Rodney Archer (D).
• District 4 – Richard Constanzo (R), Tim Isbel (R), J. Shain Vowell (R), Amy Jones (R).
*District 5 – Martin “Marty” May (D), Robert McKamey (R), Jeff Pack (R), Karin Martin Partin (R), Barbara Vickery (R).
• District 6 -- Anthony Allen (R), Aaron Wells (R); Ebony M. Capshaw (D), Derek Guy (D).
• District 7 – Sabra Beauchamp (R), Nathan Mullins (R), Sharon Bourgeois Capshaw (D), Steve Verran (D).
• District 8 – Jawrell Cook (R), Don A. Layton (R); Emily S. Wallace (R), Ashley Craven (D), Elizabeth “Liz” Henry (D).
School Board candidates who have qualified:
• District 1 – Ray Hagan (R), Jo Williams, independent (Aug. 6 ballot only).
• District 2 – Katherine Birkbeck (R).
• District 6 – Scott Gillenwaters, independent (Aug. 6 ballot only).
• District 7 – Don A. Bell, independent (Aug. 6 ballot only).
To get on the ballot for either the May 5 primary or the Aug. 6 general election, candidates must have submitted petitions with signatures of at least 25 registered voters, and for district seats, those voters must have been residents of the particular district, county Elections Administrator Mark Stephens said.
Early voting for the Aug. 6 general election will run from July 17-Aug. 1.
The deadline to request absentee ballots for the May 5 primary is April 25.
Click to view a copy of the 2026 Early Voting Sample Ballot: Sample Ballot
