Early voting ends Thursday for May 5 primary election
Early voters line up outside the Anderson County government office in Norris on Wednesday, April 15. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Locations for early voting are the Anderson County Fair Association building, 218 Nave St., Clinton; Midtown Community Center, 102 Robertsville Road, Oak Ridge; and the Anderson County government Offices in the Anderson Crossing Shopping Center, 3324 Andersonville Highway.
The key race is for the Republican nomination for county mayor, in which incumbent, Terry Frank faces challenger Joshua Anderson, who is now a District 3 county commissioner.
Early voting began on Wednesday, April 15.
As of the end of the day Monday, April 27, there had been 3,825 people voting by machine at the three early-voting polling sites, and an additional 171 by mail-in ballots, for a total early-vote count of 3,99.
Of that total, 3,448 voted in the Republican primary, while 548 had cast their ballots in the Democratic primary.
Next Tuesday’s primary election includes Republicans and Democrats seeking spots on the Aug. 6 general election ballot.
Besides mayor, the only other contested countywide primary race is for the Republican nomination for sheriff, with two candidates facing off. Sheriff Russell Barker is facing newcomer 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 general election ballot. Jennings will face the winner of the Republican primary.
With only two candidates running for mayor, both as Republicans, the primary is expected to decide the winner.
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.
There are at least two candidates who made the ballot 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.
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 was April 25.
