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By Buzz Trexler

Star Correspondent

Early voting in the Nov. 5 state and federal general election began Wednesday and Carter County Administrator of Elections Tracy Tanner-Harris said it could be a record-breaking year.

Tanner-Harris said voters were lined up before the Election Commission office opened at 8 a.m. Wednesday, even though early voting did not begin until 9 a.m. “We voted 782 in person,” the administrator said by email. “Most ever on first day of early voting! They stood in line in the cold and rain. Had some printer issues at first of day, but our I.T. person got that straightened out. Great turnout on first day!”

Tally that with 274 voting by mail and ballots cast by 83 nursing home residents and the number of voters casting early ballots reaches 1,112. “We might just break records like Georgia did!” she said.

Tanner-Harris said the early-voting record was set in the 2020 election with 12,167 voters casting early ballots, including absentee ballots. The administrator recalled she had to count mail-in votes every day during the period because so many people voted absentee due to COVID.

The main attraction is likely the close presidential race between Republicans Donald J. Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, who are battling Democrats Kamala D. Harris and her running mate, Tim Waltz. But there are others still on the presidential ballot: Independents Jay J. Bowman and De D. Bowman; Independent Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia; Independents Rachele Fruit and Dennis Richter; Independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Nicole Shanahan; and Independent Jill Stein and Samson LeBeau Kpadenou.

Contested local races include seats on Elizabethton City Council and city judge. 

Four candidates are vying for three City Council seats: Kim Birchfield (incumbent), Deb Gouge, Richard Tester, and Jeff Treadway (incumbent).

Birchfield is a retired law enforcement professional who was first elected in 2016. He serves on the Parks and Recreation Board, Surf Betsy Advisory Board, and 911 Emergency System Board. Birchfield previously served on the Elizabethton City School Board and has made unsuccessful runs for Carter County Sheriff.

Gouge is a retired educator seeking her first political seat. She served as Elizabethton High School’s fine arts chair and was choral director for 37 years. She retired from the city school system at the end of this past academic year.

Tester previously served on City Council but was unseated in the 2018 midterm election. He served as board chairman of Carter County Tomorrow, which was dissolved in 2019.

Treadway serves on the Bonnie Kate Theatre Board, Historic Zoning Commission, and Main Street Board. Treadway was first elected to City Council in 2012.

Candidates on the ballot for city judge include incumbent Jason L. Holly and Teresa Murray Smith, and voters have seen this situation before.

City Council members elected Holly as interim city judge in February 2020, succeeding T.J. Little Jr., who died Dec. 28, 2019, leaving the city without a judge. (Little had been in the seat since 2007.) The following August, Holly failed in a write-in bid to fill Little’s unexpired term, losing to Smith. However, Holly defeated Smith in the November 2020 election.

 

State, Federal Legislative Races

In the race for the District 3 state House of Representative seat, Republican Timothy Aaron Hill is on the ballot against Democrat Lori Love. Both were unopposed in their respective primaries on Aug. 1. District 3 includes Johnson County and part of Carter, Hawkins, and Sullivan counties, including Blountville. 

In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Republican Marsha Blackburn, who has represented Tennessee since 2019, is on the ballot against Democrat Gloria Johnson, of Knoxville, who defeated three candidates in that party’s primary. Also on the ballot are Independents Tharon Chandler, Pamela Jeanine “P.” Moses, and Hastina Robinson.

In the race for the 1st District U.S. House of Representatives seat, incumbent Republican Diana Harshbarger, who ran unopposed in the Republican Primary, is on the ballot against Democrat Kevin Jenkins, of Sneedville, who defeated Bennett H. Lapides, of Gatlinburg. Also seeking to unseat Harshbarger are two Independents, Richard G. Baker and Levi Brake.

 

Uncontested Races

Three candidates are running for three open seats in the city school board race: incumbent David Phil Isaacs, incumbent Jamie M. Schaff, and Elizabethton dentist Robert Wayne Lewis Jr.

Three incumbents are on the ballot for three open seats on the Watauga City Commission: Dennis G. Hicks, Richard D. McCracken, and Albert Mitchell Thomasson. 

Alone on the ballot is Renea Jones, who defeated longtime Elizabethton Mayor Curt Alexander in the bid for the 4th District seat in the state House of Representatives during the Aug. 1 Republican Primary, sending her to Nashville as there is no Democratic opposition. District 4 includes Unicoi County and part of Carter County.

Also alone on the ballot is Charlene Thomas, who is unopposed for the Carter County Commission 5th District seat.

One race is wide open for qualifying write-ins: the District 2 Constable position. 

 

Need to Know …

The voter registration deadline for the Nov. 5 election was Monday, Oct. 7. Early voting runs through Thursday, Oct. 31. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Tuesday, Oct. 29.

Voters must bring a state of Tennessee or federal photo ID that includes any of the following photo IDs, even if expired: Tennessee driver’s license, U.S. passport, Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, U.S. military ID, veteran identification card, Tennessee handgun carry permit, federal employee ID, or state employee ID.