Oak Ridge Today

Letter: Anderson County Commission needs wake-up call

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Anderson County is a wonderful place to live and work. Our economy should easily out-perform Knox County’s. Yet, we consistently fail to do so—and our County Commission seems to be asleep. Between 2000 and 2010, Anderson County grew at only 41 percent of Knox County’s growth rate. That’s unacceptable.

Over the next decade, Anderson County taxpayers will pay close to $2 million in salary and medical/dental/retirement benefits for its county commissioners. The commission needs to get focused and get busy. Our economy was dealt a significant blow when the commission opted for an expensive jail expansion. Commissioners could have sought support from a newly-elected Republican governor for more time to resolve jail overcrowding through less-costly administrative means—but did not. Instead, they chose the jail expansion, ignoring its impact on our taxes and our economy.

The commissioners made a second error when they passed the jail expansion without dealing with the new jail’s increased operating costs. This mistake drove jail costs even higher and raised the real possibility of a second tax increase. Thankfully, a second increase was prevented by the efforts of Mayor Frank. [Read more…]

Early voting ends Saturday

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Time is running out to vote early in next Thursday’s countywide general election and state and federal primary elections. Early voting will continue today until 6 p.m. and will be open Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

Polling locations are at the Clinton Community Center, the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge, and the North Anderson Government Office in the Anderson Crossing Shopping Center.

On Thursday, 681 people voted, bringing the 12-day total to an impressive 7,140 early voters.

Election Day is Thursday, August 7, and polls across Anderson County will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day. For more information, call the Anderson County Election Commission at (865) 457-6238 or visit the website at www.acelect.com.

Today—July 8—is deadline to register to vote in Aug. 7 election

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Today—Tuesday, July 8—is the final day to register to vote in time to be eligible to take part in the Aug. 7 general election.

Early voting for the August election, which features countywide races and County Commission races, will be held from July 18 through August.

To find out more about voter registration, call the Anderson County Election Commission at (865) 457-6238 or visit www.acelect.com.

Election Commission experiencing technical difficulties with voting totals on website

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Anderson County Courthouse

The Anderson County Courthouse on Main Street in Clinton is pictured above.

The Anderson County Election Commission is experiencing technical difficulties with the voting totals that would ordinarily be displaying on its website.

Voting closed at 8 p.m. today in the Democratic and Republican primaries. Some voting totals were initially displaying on the website, although the early voting results were not. However, no results were displaying at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The Election Commission said it is working to resolve the issue and hopes to have results posted soon.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Anderson County primary deadline Thursday at noon

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Information from WYSH Radio

The deadline to qualify as a candidate in any of the races on the ballot for Anderson County’s May 6 primaries is at noon Thursday.

Here is a look at who has qualified so far:

  • So far, only incumbent Judge Don Elledge has qualified to run for his seat as criminal and circuit judge.
  • Five people have qualified to run in the hotly-contested Juvenile Court judge primaries. Two Democrats—J. Michael Clement and David Dunkirk—are seeking the nomination, while three Republicans—Victoria Bannach, Lauren Biloski, and Brian Hunt—have qualified to seek their party’s nod to run for the seat in the August general election.
  • Brandon Fisher, the current Juvenile Court judge, had qualified to run for the Democratic nomination for chancellor, a seat coming open due to the retirement of William Lantrip, but he announced just a couple of weeks ago that he will be dropping out of the race to join a company in Pennsylvania. On the Republican side, Mike Farley and Phil Harber have qualified to appear on the May ballot. [Read more…]

So far, five candidates for juvenile judge, four for sheriff, three for chancellor

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Anderson County Courthouse

The Anderson County Courthouse on Main Street in Clinton is pictured above.

So far, there are five potential candidates for Anderson County Juvenile Court judge, four for sheriff, and three for chancellor.

An independent has picked up a petition to run for county mayor, possibly opposing Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, and Tennessee Rep. John Ragan has an opponent in the Aug. 7 Republican primary.

The five candidates for Anderson County Juvenile Court judge are Victoria “Vickie” Bannach, a Clinton Republican; Lauren Biloski, an Oak Ridge Republican; Victoria Bowling, a Heiskell Democrat; J. Michael Clement, a Clinton Democrat; and Brian J. Hunt, a Clinton Republican. They are candidates in the May 6 county primary.

The current juvenile court judge, Brandon Fisher, a Clinton Democrat, is running for Anderson County chancellor in that election. The other two chancellor candidates are Phil Harber, a Clinton Republican, and Robert Warren Wilkinson, an Oak Ridge Republican. [Read more…]

Anderson County Democrats to have May primary

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The Anderson County Democratic Party will nominate candidates for county offices in a primary election in May.

The first day to pick up a qualifying petition for the May 6 primary was Friday, Nov. 22. The qualifying deadline for candidates running for office in the primary is noon, Thursday, Feb. 20.

The party notified the Anderson County Election Commission in October that it planned to nominate candidates in the May primary. [Read more…]

Oliver Springs liquor vote, Norris Council race remain close

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Unofficial results from Tuesday’s election remained close on an Oliver Springs liquor referendum and the race for a fifth seat on the Norris City Council, and it wasn’t clear how provisional ballots could change the final vote tallies.

Oliver Springs voters appeared to have rejected the liquor referendum, with 486 voting yes and 519 voting “no” in Anderson and Roane counties. The referendum would allow package stores to sell alcoholic beverages.

But there are about 50 provisional ballots in Anderson County and an unknown number in Roane County, election officials said Wednesday. It wasn’t clear how many of those were from Oliver Springs, or how the ballots and a post-election audit might affect the final vote when results are certified Nov. 19.

Results in the race for four of the five seats on Norris City Council seemed clear. Chris Mitchell, Bill Grieve Jr., Loretta A. Painter, and Jack Black all received more than 500 votes, according to the unofficial results.

But the write-in race between four candidates competing for a fifth seat was close. York Haverkamp had 166 write-in votes and Eugene F. Oates had 154.

Anderson County Election Commission Administrator Mark Stephens said the write-in ballots will have to be checked vote by vote.

“We have really never had to do this in the past,” he said.

In other races in Anderson County, Steven R. Emert received the most votes in the special election to represent District 3 on Anderson County Commission. That district includes Andersonville, Fairview, Norris, and Glen Alpine. Former commissioner Johnny Alley resigned from the seat after he was elected Anderson County property assessor in the Aug. 2 election.

Also Tuesday, Shain Vowell and Andrew Howard won two seats on Lake City City Council, Vowell with 231 votes and Howard with 191.

Most of the other results mirrored results in larger regions, with the exception of the presidential race. Republican Bob Corker beat Democrat Mark E. Clayton in the U.S. Senate race, Republican Chuck Fleischmann defeated Democrat Mary M. Headrick in the battle to represent Tennessee’s Third District in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Republican Dennis Powers trounced Independent Virgil Kidwell.

Live election results posted, early totals available

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Midtown Community Center Voting

Rex Sanders, left, picks up his voting machine code before casting a ballot at the Midtown Community Center on Tuesday afternoon. Also pictured is poll worker Dave Anderson.

Note: This story was last updated at 9:37 p.m.

Voting results are being posted on the Anderson County Election Commission website.

The results below, which include early voting and absentee ballots, will be updated, and we’ll post the new numbers here as we can.

The following results include 26 of 28 precincts in Anderson County. We’ll add Roane County election results as we can. The early voting and absentee ballot results in Roane County don’t contradict the current Anderson County results in the Oak Ridge City Council or Board of Education elections, or the Oliver Springs liquor referendum.

 

Oak Ridge City Council (five seats):

Trina Baughn—5,842 (23 percent)

Kelly Callison—4,641 (18.3 percent)

L.C. “Charlie” Hensley—5,298 (20.9 percent)

Charles J. “Chuck” Hope Jr.—5,718 (22.5 percent)

Ellen Smith—3,909 (15.4 percent)

 

Oak Ridge Board of Education (two seats):

Leonard Abbatiello—4,287 (24.9 percent)

Angi Agle—6,603 (38.4 percent)

Keys Filauer—6,319 (36.7 percent)

 

Tennessee House of Representatives, 33rd District:

John Ragan, Oak Ridge Republican—12,810 (51.4 percent)

Jim Hackworth, Clinton Democrat—12,114 (48.6 percent)

 

Oliver Springs liquor referendum (To allow retail package stores to sell alcoholic beverages in the city of Oliver Springs):

Yes—360 (50.2 percent)

No—357 (49.8 percent)

 

Clinton charter question (To move Clinton general elections from December of odd-numbered years to November of even-numbered years):

For—2,556 (75.7 percent)

Against—819 (24.3 percent)

Last weekend of early voting

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Early Voting 2012

Members of the Oak Ridge Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. voted early. Pictured from left to right are Karen Lott, Arnetha Johnson, Dean Sheard, Yolanda Childs, Elvira Hodges, Deloris Collins, Donna Beidleman, and Roslyn Eskridge. (Photo by Kathy Fahey)

Early voting ends Nov. 1, and this weekend is the last weekend to cast ballots early at local polling stations for the Nov. 6 election.

Tennessee officials said voters continued their strong early turnout Wednesday, with more than 100,000 voters again casting ballots. As of Wednesday, more than 700,000 voters had already cast their ballots in seven days.

“I am pleased with the turnout we have seen during this first week of early voting,” Secretary of State Tre Hargett said. “I expect turnout to remain strong as we approach the end of early voting next week.”

In Oak Ridge, members of the Oak Ridge Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. voted early.

“We wanted to demonstrate the importance of voting, especially early voting by ‘strolling to the polls,'” chapter member Arnetha Johnson said.

In Anderson County, early voting hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

Anderson County voters can cast ballots at the Clinton Community Center at 101 Hicks St. in Clinton, Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road in Oak Ridge, and North Anderson County Government Office at 3310 Andersonville Highway in Norris.

For more information about early voting in Anderson County, visit the Anderson County Election Commission website.

In Roane County, early voting hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

Early voting locations in Roane County are Rockwood Community Center at 710 N. Chamberlain Ave. in Rockwood, Harriman Community Center at 631 Clinch St. in Harriman, and Roane County Courthouse at 200 E. Race St., Suite 8 in Kingston, and First Christian Church at 100 Gum Hollow Road in Oak Ridge.

For more information about early voting in Roane County, visit the Roane County Election Commission website.

Nov. 6 election features city council, county commission, school board candidates

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Note: This story was updated at 4:06 p.m.

There are 17 candidates eligible for election to 10 city council seats in Oak Ridge, Norris, and Lake City in the Nov. 6 election.

There are also nine candidates in a special election for Anderson County Commission District 3. Commissioner Johnny Alley gave up that seat after he became Anderson County property assessor in the Aug. 2 election.

In addition, there are three candidates for Oak Ridge Board of Education and one candidate for Oak Ridge City Judge.

The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 8. Early voting starts Oct. 17 and runs through Nov. 1, Anderson County Election Commission Administrator Mark Stephens said Thursday.

[Read more…]

November election features city council, judge, school board

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The three incumbent Oak Ridge City Council members—L. Charles “Charlie” Hensley, Charles J. “Chuck” Hope Jr., and Ellen Smith—have picked up qualifying petitions to run in the Nov. 6 election, and Trina Baughn, the first-time candidate defeated days ago in the Aug. 2 special election, plans to run again in November.

Also qualifying to run in November is Kelly S. Callison, who sought an appointment to City Council after former member Tom Hayes resigned in June 2011.

There are three seats available. They are the seats now held by Hensley, Hope, and Smith. Hope was appointed to the position after Hayes resigned.

Meanwhile, former Oak Ridge City Council member Leonard Abbatiello has picked up a petition to run for school board, and the two incumbents, Angi Agle and Keys Fillauer, have also picked up petitions, said Stephanie Gamble, Anderson County Election Commission deputy administrator.

She said Oak Ridge City Judge Robert A. McNees III has also qualified to run in November.

[Read more…]