Shelby County will have its first elected female District Attorney. Republican Amy Weirich and Democrat Carol Chumney will vie for that position August 2nd.
The property assessor Cheyenne Johnson trounced her opponent in the Democratic primary with 80 percent of the vote. She’ll face off against Republican real estate appraiser Tim Walton. Walton won his three-way primary with 38 percent of the vote.
Republican Rick Rout will face off against Ed Stanton Jr. for the General Sessions Court Clerk seat. Stanton eked out a victory over a crowded field that included county commissioner Sidney Chism and the former clerk Otis Jackson. Jackson is facing corruption charges, but still ran to keep his seat. He got 15 percent of the vote.
And finally, Republican Steve Basar will face off against Democrat Steve Ross for the county commission seat vacated by Republican Mike Carpenter.
Only 11 percent turned out to vote.
The weather was perfect for robust voting, but only 69,600 people went to the polls. Rich Holden is the administrator of elections for Shelby County. He says one reason is voter fatigue. “We have had a lot of elections in our community,” Holden said.
Also, there is a sitting president running for a second term, so there is no contest in the Democratic primary.
Holden said, “I don’t it’s super low. It’s representative of a turnout with an incumbent president.” The turnout was 10.5 percent in the February 2004 and 11.5 percent in the March 1996 presidential primaries.
There are three more elections in Shelby County this year: municipal referendums on schools, state and federal primaries and the General Election in November.
