Early voting for the June 2nd Livingston election still uncertain after the Overton County Election Commission met Thursday.
Overton Elections Administrator Craig Story said the discussion came up when the commission discussed setting hours for early voting. Story said the June 2 ballot may not even require early voting.
“Well, at the present time we have three candidates for three spots for aldermen, and so if that holds right now, there will not be a need for early voting because there is not a contested race,” Story said.
Story said that Livingston will still have an election on June 2, but state statute does not require early voting for uncontested races. Story said the elections commission will make a decision on early voting by April 13 at noon.
“If someone were to want a write-in for themselves to be counted, they would have to come over here and file a certificate of candidacy with us, and then at that point, we would have a contested race, and so that would change how we would approach things,” Story said.
Voting hours for June 2 are set from 9am to 7pm, which Story said is standard. The commission also finalized staffing for the election, including workers for Election Day, absentee counting, and nursing home voting. Story emphasized the importance of those behind-the-scenes roles.
“It takes a lot of people to hold an election,” Story said. “We’ve got some really, really good people to help us.”
Story said nursing home voting is scheduled ahead of Election Day on May 11. Story said nursing home voting ensures accessibility for all voters.
“They may not be in a position where they’re physically able to come over and see us, but we’re able to go over to any, you know, and in Overton County, it’s just the nursing home that we’ve got,” Story said. “Other counties have got other assisted living facilities and they might go to multiple locations. But for us, we’ve just got one place that we need to go and help people vote. And so we’ve got a group of individuals that are appointed by the commission that go over there. And if they need whatever assistance they need to cast a ballot, we’re able to do that. We’re able to make sure that it’s done fairly.”
Story said he encourages residents to stay engaged, noting multiple elections are scheduled over the next several months.