For the August 1 Union County General Election, the school board races in the four districts were the highly contested races. Many were close but at least one was a runaway.
In District 6 (Paulette), Harold Cooke soundly defeated incumbent Andrew Reed 230 to 93. Former Director of Schools Jimmy Carter defeated Chris Cooper 161 to 146 in District 4 (Big Ridge). The incumbents in Districts 1, 2 and 4 did not seek re-election.

Election time is coming! And June 23rd is that special day for two cities in Union County. The city of Maynardville will be electing three officers to the city council, and the city of Plainview will be casting ballots for the Mayor’s office and two Alderman seats. On Election day, opening time is 9:00am, and all polls will close at 8:00pm. (For those unable to vote or over the age of 60, please remember the availability of absentee voting, now more accessible for those affected by Covid-19.)

The Tennessee Corn Referendum will be held on Wednesday, November 28 and Thursday, November 29 from 8am - 5pm. The question on the referendum ballot will be “shall the producers of corn assess themselves at the rate of one cent ($0.01) per bushel of corn sold”. If passed, the funds will be paid over to the Tennessee Corn Promotion Board to finance programs of research, education, market development, marketing, advertising and other methods to promote the increased production, consumption, use and sale of corn products.

A common theme for candidates running for office in Union County this year is unity. Several candidates have incorporated unity in their campaign slogans. Martin Shafer’s campaign slogan is “The Unity Community”. Charlie Hamilton’s campaign slogan is “The Voice of Unity”. During early voting, the Reverend Gary Beeler led all the candidates in a unity of prayer each morning. Viewed more than 7,000 times over the past 10 days on Facebook, this prayer circle has become somewhat of a social media phenomenon.

Every month seems to have its major national holiday except August. Yet for American women, August holds one of the most important dates, August 26, 1920. This date brought full suffrage or the right to vote for women in America.