Early voting for the November 8, State and Federal elections will begin today, Wednesday, October 19, and continue through November 3, at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Smithville. Early voting will also be held for one day in Alexandria at the DeKalb County Fairgrounds.

At the DeKalb County Courthouse voting hours will be Mondays 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Tuesdays 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; Wednesdays 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; Thursdays 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.; Fridays 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and Saturdays 9:00 a.m. until Noon. Early voting at the Fairgrounds will be Thursday, October 27, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Polls open at the voting precincts during Election Day, November 8, from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.

Ballots include races for Governor, Congressman and State Representative, while voters in the 4th District will include a candidate for Constable to fill an unexpired term. There will also be choices on four constitutional amendments on the ballots.

Candidates for Governor are Republican incumbent Bill Lee, Democratic nominee Jason Brantley Martin and Independents Constance M. Every, John Gentry, Basil Marceaux, Charles Van Morgan, Alfred O’Neil, Deborah Rouse, Michael E. Scantland and Rick Tyler.

Candidates for U.S House of Representatives District 6 are Republican incumbent John Rose and Democratic challenger Randal Cooper.

Candidates for Tennessee House of Representatives District 40 are Republican Michael Hale and Democrat Tom Cook, both from DeKalb County.

The only candidate for Constable in the 4th District is Republican Lane Ball.

Constitutional Amendment #1 would add a new section to article XI to make it illegal for any person, corporation, association or the State of Tennessee or its political subdivisions to deny or attempt to deny employment to any person because of the person’s membership in, affiliation with, resignation from, or refusal to join or affiliate with any labor union or employee organization.

Constitutional Amendment #2 would add to Article III, Section 12 of the current constitution a process for the temporary exercise of powers and duties of the governor by the Speaker of the Senate (or the Speaker of the House if there is no Speaker of the Senate in office) when the governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.

Constitutional Amendment #3 would change the language in article I, section 33 of the current constitution with “slavery and involuntary servitude are forever prohibited. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime.”

Constitutional Amendment #4 simply deletes article IX, section I of the current constitution which prohibits ministers of the gospel and priests of any denomination from holding a seat in either House of the legislature.

A “yes” vote is a vote to amend the Constitution and adopt the proposed language in the amendment. A “no” vote is a vote to NOT amend the constitution and keep the current language in the Constitution unchanged. The number of “yes” votes must be a majority of the total votes in the gubernatorial election.