School board lone local race on ballot
By Becky Long
Publisher
The first week of early voting in Clay County has not brought out a flood of voters, but still for the first week, it’s on pace with previous years, according to Elections Board Director Rebecca Hall.
Typically the beginning period of early voting is slow and as it begins to wind down, prior to March 5 election day, the numbers pick up. Early voting continues through Saturday, March 2. Weekday hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on the one Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Early voting is conducted at the BOE office.
By the end of the day on Tuesday, 313 voters had taken advantage of early voting. Of those, 251 Republican ballots were requested which far outweighed the Democratic Party ballot requests of 62 ballots. Democrats have no local offices and few state offices on the ballot. There were no Libertarian ballot requests.
Hall said absentees are one area she noticed is “way down.” The BOE had 42 total requests and 13 absentee ballots have been returned. Those using the absentee method must have their ballots in the hands of the BOE election workers by 7:30 p.m. on primary election day, Tuesday, March 5. There is no postmark exception.
The school board election is the only local one on the ballot and the race is among incumbents Danny Jones and Reba Beck along with candidates Josh Ashe and Jeanine Craig. Voters may choose two to serve on the five-member board.
School board candidates answer questions on page A8 and a run-down of state and federal offices is on page A9.
In the meantime, voter registration has reached 9,864 in Clay County with the Republicans leading the way with 4,802; Democrats 1,380; unaffiliated with 3,619; Libertarian 61 and a recognized party called No Label with two registrations.
If you have questions regarding elections, call the office at 389-6812.