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Early Voting for Primaries Begins Today
Dennis Stanley

Early voting for the May 3, 2022 DeKalb Primaries are being held today, April 13, through April 28, 2022. Voters must choose which primary they wish to vote in, either Democrat or Republican.

At the DeKalb County Courthouse in Smithville, early voting hours will be as follows:

Mondays 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wednesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Thursdays 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Fridays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (no voting on Good Friday)
Saturdays 9 a.m. to Noon.

At the Alexandria Fairgrounds:

Tuesday April 19, 2022, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday April 25 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Polls Open on Election Day at 8 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. The election commission encourages voters to put these times on their calendar for future reference.

The qualifying deadline for the August 4 elections, and state primary, was April 7, with the withdrawal deadline on April 14, 2022, at 12:00 Noon. State primary elections will be held on August 4, for State Governor, U.S. House of Representatives, and Tennessee House of Representatives. General elections will also be held for state judicial offices and county seats.

City elections will be held in Smithville, Alexandria, Liberty, and Dowelltown on August 4.

In Smithville, the mayor and two aldermen will be elected, each to serve a four-year term. Beth Chandler, Don Crook, and Rhonda Tiefenauer have returned petitions for the alderman race, while incumbent Mayor Joshua M. Miller has returned a petition in his bid for reelection.

Alexandria will elect a mayor and three aldermen each to a four-year term, as well as two Aldermen to fill unexpired terms. Allen Lawson has returned a petition for the alderman race, while Lloyd D. Dyer and Jana Beth Tripp have returned petitions for the mayor’s race.

In Liberty the mayor and five aldermen will be elected to four-year terms. Joe D. Bratten, Derek Johnson, Kevin R. Mullinax, William H. Reynolds Jr., Kendra Stanford, and James Ryan Dodd have returned petitions for the alderman race. Audrey M. Martin, and Jason Hayes Ray have returned petitions for the mayor’s race.

In Dowelltown voters will elect two Aldermen to a full four-year term. Greg Fish has returned a petition for the alderman race.

Daniel D. Cripps has returned a petition for DeKalb County Commissioner District 1 as an Independent candidate, while Tony Luna is in the race in District 3. Wayne Cantrell is running as an Independent in District 4.

In the School Board Race, Danny Parkerson has returned a petition for District 1, Tony Poss District 4, and Shaun Tubbs for District 7.

Eric Ervin has filed proper application as a write-in candidate in August, for the 4th District Constable’s race. Election officials say that he is also a candidate for 4th District School Board in GOP primary, and knows he cannot hold both offices. If elected he will have to choose. As write-in he is not a party representative (an independent) and his name will not appear on August ballot as a Constable candidate.

In the meantime, Smithville businessman Michael Hale has picked up a qualifying petition for the Republican nomination for the two-year term of the 40th District State Representative seat, currently held by Terri Lynn Weaver. Tom Cook has also picked up a petition for that race.

Weaver was first elected in 2008, and has also been issued a petition in Smith County to seek the GOP nomination for reelection. Neither Weaver nor Hale have filed their petitions.

With redistricting, the new makeup of the 40th District includes Jackson, Smith, and Cannon in addition to DeKalb and a small portion of Wilson.

Bobby Bush has filed a duplicate petition for the Democrat State Executive Committeeman 16th District.

The deadline for voter registration for the August Election is July 5, 2022, with early voting for the August Election July 15-30, 2022.