July 5th  begins early voting in local election runoffs.  Early voting is from 9 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday at the Fannin County Courthouse.  Your last day to request an absentee ballot is on July 22.  On July 26, all polling places will be open from 7 am to 7 pm.

There are two runoffs in Fannin County, one for the Board of Education and one for Chief Judge of Magistrate Court.  The Board of Education is between Clarence “Junior” Farmer, who received 31.27% of the May 24^th primary vote and Chad Galloway, who received 39.26%.  The Magistrate Judge race is between Brian Jones, who received 35.66% of primary votes and Sherri Walker, who received 46.25% of votes.  Since there is no Democrat competing for the office, whoever wins the runoff will win the election.

Mary Ann Conner of the Board of Elections for Fannin County said that 62 people voted at the courthouse for the first day of early voting, a surprisingly large number for local run-off elections.

In other election news,  Diane Newsome is qualifying to run on the November ballot against incumbent Lewis DeWeese for his School Board seat.  Ms. Newsome filled out her official paperwork already.  She must turn in her petition with enough valid Fannin voter signatures by July 12th in order to be  on the November ballot.  Ms. Conner said that two other people came in to attempt to qualify:  one person for Terry Bramlett’s School Board seat and another for a Commissioner seat.  However, neither of these turned in completed official paperwork by July 1st and cannot run.

Click here to read May 24 Fannin County Primary Results

Magistrate Judge candidate – Sherri Walker

Magistrate Judge candidate – Brian Jones

School Board candidate – Chad Galloway

School Board Candidate – Clarence “Junior” Farmer