March 5 is Election Day in Anderson County

Donna Smith, The Oak Ridger
Updated ·4 min read

Tuesday, March 5, is Election Day in Anderson County and throughout Tennessee, with voters making their choices for presidential candidate and local residents voting in several county races.

In Anderson County, the top vote-getter among four Republican candidates vying for chancellor, which is the chancery court judge, will be the winner. The candidates are James "Jamie" Brooks Jr., Daniel Forrester, Evan Hauser and Roger Miller. Brooks currently holds the judgeship, having been appointed by Gov. Bill Lee following the resignation of Nichole "Nikki" Cantrell. The four candidates appeared at a Feb. 6 League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge forum, which can be viewed online on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAv0dbrFUcY.

Mark Stephens
Mark Stephens

Incumbent John Alley Jr., also on the Republican primary ballot, is the lone candidate for property assessor, so he will also be elected to the position on March 5 because there is no Democratic candidate.

Other area races on the ballot, if you live in specific districts, include:

  • Anderson County Commission, District 6, which is the Oak Ridge City Hall (Senior Center), Robertsville and West Hills precincts - Republican primary, Aaron Wells; Democratic primary, Ebony Capshaw. Wells currently holds the position vacated by Catherine Denenberg.

  • Anderson County Board of Education, Districts 3, 4, 5 and 8 - District 3, which is the Andersonville, Fairview, Glen Alpine and Norris precincts, Republican primary, Dail Cantrell; Democratic primary, no candidate. District 4, which is the Briceville, Clinton Middle, Lake City Middle, and Rocky Top (community center) precincts, Republican party, Darren Carden; Democratic primary, no candidate. District 5, which is the Clinton High School, Dutch Valley, Marlow and Norwood precincts, Republican primary, Sherri Jarnigan-Beaty; Democratic primary, Theresa Evans Venable. District 8, which is Oak Ridge's Emory Valley, Hendrix Creek and Woodland precincts, Republican primary, Glenda Langenberg; Democratic primary, David Miller.

These races also will be on the ballot in the Anderson County general election in August, according to Mark Stephens, county Election Commission administrator. The party candidates for the one commission race and four school board seats will face off against each other, along with any independent candidates.

Few people voted early in Anderson County

Stephens said 4,164 people, or 8% of the county's 50,738 registered voters chose to vote during the early voting period for the Democratic and Republican primaries. The breakdown: 3,512 in the Republican primary; 652 in the Democratic primary.

Stephens said the low number of residents voting early could have been because of the few contested local races, lack of interest in voting in primaries, or because they wanted to see which presidential candidates would drop out or keep running by March 5.

And it doesn't mean that voting on Tuesday will be low. Stephens said some people simply choose to wait to vote until Election Day.

People could vote at any of the three early voting locations, no matter where they lived. Stephens said 1,578 people voted at the Oak Ridge location; 1,240 in Clinton; and 1,088 at the Andersonville location in north Anderson County. The early voting also includes absentee, mail-in votes.

New voting machines

Residents will see new voting machines in Anderson County, thanks to a law going into effect that calls for a verifyable paper trail. Stephens said when you arrive to vote at your precinct, you'll go through the normal process of checking in with the election workers to vote. You'll then be given a ballot paper and a code and sent to the Hart Duo System voting machine. You'll insert the ballot paper and use your code. You'll then use the machine's touchscreen to vote. When you're finished, your votes will be printed on the ballot paper and you'll go to a scanner and feed the ballot paper into the scanner, and your vote will be tabulated, he said.

Voting isn't expected to take any longer than on the previous machines, he said.

More information on all voting matters can be found on the election commission website at acelection.com, which is a new website address. The phone number for people with questions on voting to call is 865-457-6238.

The Oak Ridger's News Editor Donna Smith covers Oak Ridge area news. Email her at dsmith@oakridger.com and follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @ridgernewsed.

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This article originally appeared on Oakridger: March 5 is Election Day in Anderson County