KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

Early voting for the Tennessee State and Federal Primary and County General Elections begins this Friday, July 12, and will run until Saturday, July 27.

For Tullahoma residents, the C.D. Stamps Community Center at 810 South Jackson St is the place to go early vote, while the Coffee County Administrative Plaza at 1329 McArthur St, Suite 6 is the place to go for Manchester residents. For C.D. Stamps the hours for voting are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Saturday is from 9 a.m. to noon. For the Plaza hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

In Franklin County early balloting is 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. until noon on Saturdays with the exception of July 25 which will see voting go on until 5:30 p.m. Early voting in Franklin County will be at the Franklin County Election Commission at 839 Dinah Shore Blvd. in Winchester. Tullahoma voters who live in Franklin County vote early in Franklin County not at C.D. Stamps.

For voters who do not vote during early voting, they will vote on Election Day Thursday, Aug. 1 at their assigned precincts, based on their residential address. Hours for all precincts in Coffee County will be 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. Voters who have an address change will be asked to fill out a failsafe form to allow them to vote in the correct precinct.

For additional information, you may contact the Coffee County Election Office at (931) 723-5103. 

City and aldermen races

Both Manchester and Tullahoma will see a new mayor and their choice of aldermen as those seats will be on the August general election ballot, where voters will select four candidates to serve as alderman for their respective city.

For the race for mayor of Tullahoma, three candidates are vying for the seat following Mayor Ray Knowis’ decision to not seek re-election. The final candidates for mayor include current District 9 County Commissioner Lynn Sebourn, current Tullahoma Alderman Kurt Glick and Petros Pisinos. C. Scott Shasteen also submitted his papers for the mayoral seat; however, he announced in June he would be suspending his campaign and encouraged his supporters to vote for another candidate.

For the Tullahoma aldermanic race, three seats will be up for grabs as Matthew Bird, Franklin Cammack, Sernobia McGee, John Santana and Busch Thoma seek election. Current aldermen Jenna Amacher, Daniel Berry and Derick Mann did not file their petitions to qualify and will not be seeking re-election for their seats.

For Manchester, the three candidates vying for the seat of mayor of Manchester include current aldermen Bob Bellamy, current aldermen and District 2 County Commissioner Joey Hobbs and Bill Nickels. Current Manchester Mayor Marilyn Howard also announced her decision to not seek reelection for the seat.

Similarly to Tullahoma, the Manchester aldermanic race will see eight candidates vying for three seats. The candidates for Manchester aldermen include current aldermen and incumbent Julie Anderson, Joe Pat Cope, John Revice Fletcher, Shannon Fletcher, current aldermen and incumbent Ryan French, Harold “Rocky” Jones, Wilma Thomas and James Threet. The third aldermanic seat up for election is Bellamy, who is running for Manchester Mayor.

As for county wide races, the seat of Coffee County Mayor will be on the August ballot following the sudden death of Judd Matheny in April. Interim Mayor Dennis Hunt was selected as the Republican nominee following the GOP’s caucus in May. Hunt will meet independent candidates David Nipper and Roxanne Patton at the August election. Also on the ballot will be the seat for Coffee County Property Assessor. Candidate Elissa Fletcher won the Republican Primary in March and runs unopposed.

Other county races will include Dowe Langford Jones unopposed for the seat of County Commissioner District 1, Roger W. Chambers for County Commissioner District 2, Arlis Markum for the seat of Road Commmissioner Seat 2, District 4 and Randal Braker for the seat of Constable Seat 3-Districts 5, 8 and 9. 

School board races

Tullahoma City Schools Board of Education has three seats for four-year terms and one seat for a two-year term on the August ballot. Incumbents Kim Uselton, Pat Welsh and Broc Compton will run unopposed on the ballot, while Rosie Graham also runs unopposed for the two-year term seat.

On the county level, the Coffee County School Board will see a couple of seats up for grabs. For Seat 1-Districts 1, 3 and 4 Holly Matthews runs unopposed. For the race of Seat 2-Districts 2,6 and 7 sees two seats on the ballot as Gary Cordell and Scott Hansert also will run unopposed. The final race in the school board is for Seat 3-Districts 5, 8 and 9 will also see two seats on the ballot as Robert Gilley and Beth Yentsch run unopposed.

As for Manchester, the ballot will see candidates Susan Parsley and Lee Sullivan will run for the two seats unopposed. 

State and federal primaries

As for whose on the ballot for the August primaries, in the race for State House of Representative for District 47, incumbent Rush Bricken will go unopposed in the August Republican primary. Bricken will go against independent candidate Veronica Owen in the November election. As for State Senate for District 16, incumbent Janice Bowling will also be unopposed in the August Republican primary, while Wayne Steele will also go unopposed in the August Democratic primary.

For the race of U.S. House of Representatives, District 4, will see incumbent Scott DesJarlais face off against Thomas E. Davis and Joshua James in the August Republican Primary. Whoever wins will meet Victoria Broderick, who is running unopposed in the August Democratic Primary, on the November ballot. As for the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Marsha Blackburn meets Tres Wittum at the August Republican Primary, meanwhile Marquita Bradshaw, Lola Denise Brown, Gloria Johnson and Civil Miller-Watkins will meet in the August Democratic Primary. Also on the August primary will be the Democratic State Executive Committeewoman for District 16, which will see Rupa Blackwell running unopposed.