Early voting will end Saturday
The Anderson County early-voting site in the Norris area is at the county offices in the Anderson Crossing Shop- ping Center on Andersonville Highway. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
There are three early-voting locations: the Clinton Community Center, 101 S. Hicks St.; Midtown Community Center (Wildcat Den), 102 Robertsville Road, Oak Ridge; and Anderson Crossing Shopping Center, 3324 Andersonville Highway, Norris, in the North Anderson County government offices.
Voting hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today (Wednesday) through Friday, and 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday.
Since the polls opened on July 12 in those three locations across the county for early voting, a total of 2,755 ballots had been recorded through Saturday, July 20, according to the Anderson County Election Commission website (acelection.com).
Of those, 2,618 were cast through voting machines, and 137 were paper ballots, according to the Election Commission.
A total of 1,957 ballots were cast in the Republican primary, while 778 were cast in the Democrat primary. There were 20 ballots not associated with any political party.
There are 50,739 registered voters in Anderson County.
Balloting got off to a slow start, county Elections Administrator Mark Stephens said last week.
“It’s been a little slow,” he said. “But there are several different things going on — weather, heat. And there are not a lot of races. None of the big offices are up. For the most part, there are not a lot of hotly contested races.”
The ballot includes primary races for some Tennessee statewide races, and the general-election choices for several county/city positions.
In the state Republican primary, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn is facing challenger Tres Wittum; U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann is unopposed in U.S. House District 3; state Rep. John D. Ragan is facing challenger Rick Scarbrough for District 33 in the Tennessee House of Representatives; and state Rep. Ed Butler is unopposed in state House District 41.
For the state Democrat primary, there are four candidates vying for the chance to oppose Blackburn in the U.S. Senate race: Marquita Bradshaw, Lola Denise Brown, Gloria Johnson and Civil Miller-Watkins; Jack Allen is running unopposed to be the Democratic candidate to face Fleischmann in the U.S. House District 3 race.
Anne Backus is unopposed in her bid to face the Republican candidate for state House District 33; Joe Derek Hawn is unopposed in his bid to face the Republican Butler in state House District 41; and D. Scott Hammond is running unopposed to fill an unexpired term as Democrat state executive committee member for District 5.
In the general election part of the ballot, Debra L. Heaton and Joey Smith are running unopposed for two seats on the city of Clinton School Board in Ward 1; no candidate qualified to run for an open seat on the Clinton School Board for Ward 3.
In Oak Ridge, Mary Crank is unopposed in the race for the city School Board.
Also in the county general election: Republican Daniel Forrester is unopposed for the District 7 chancellor position.
Republican Aaron Wells is running against Democrat Ebony Capshaw for the unexpired District 6 Anderson County commissioner post; and Republican John K. Alley Jr. is unopposed for the county assessor of property post.
For the Anderson County School Board, Republican Dail R. Cantrell is facing independent Sharon Burlingame in District 3; Republican Darren Carden faces independent John S. Burrell in District 4; in District 5, Republican Sheri Jarnigan-Beaty faces Democrat Theresa Evans Venable and independent Andy McKamey; and in District 8, Republican Glenda J. Langenberg faces Democrat David Miller.
For Oak Ridge City Judge, James T. “Jim” Normand is running unopposed as an independent candidate for the unexpired term.
In two other statewide votes, Tennessee Supreme Couret Judge Dwight Tarwater is facing the question of whether he should be retained in the at-large position; and Judge Matthew J. Wilson faces the same question in the state Court of Criminal Appeals, Western Division. Neither one is facing an opponent.