Another week has ended in the race to qualify for Clarksville City Council and City Judge. The qualification period opened on Monday, June 22nd and the deadline to return petitions is August 20th. This week, no new candidates officially qualified for their respective City Council race, but a sixth potential candidate has picked up a petition to run in Ward 12.
Seven of the 12 city ward positions will be on the ballot in the upcoming November election. To qualify, a candidate is required to obtain 25 nominating signatures from registered voters in the area of their desired position.
The current incumbents are Ron Erb in Ward 3, Tim Chandler in Ward 4, Valerie Guzman in Ward 5, Jeff Henley in Ward 9, and appointed Councilman Gary Norris in Ward 11. David Allen in Ward 8 and Jeff Burkhart in Ward 12 are terming out of their respective positions after serving three consecutive terms.
In Ward 3, Dajuan Little and Chelsea Camp have picked up their petitions. Both have yet to officially qualify.
In Ward 4, Margaret Thompson and Wallace Redd have both qualified to be on the ballot. Current Councilman Tim Chandler has picked up a petition to seek re-election but has yet to qualify.
In Ward 5, no new contenders have emerged in the race as Joseph Dasinger, Jason Knight, and Melissa Eldridge are the petitioned candidates. All three have officially qualified.
In Ward 8, Faye Hobson and Wanda Allen remain as the current candidates on the ballot. Wanda Allen is the wife of current Ward 8 Councilman David Allen. Both candidates have officially qualified.
In Ward 9, Matthew Scott Comperry, Bradley Morrow, and Karen Reynolds have picked up petitions and have officially qualified to be on the ballot.
In Ward 11, Robert Ott and Ashlee Evans have picked up petitions for qualification, joining appointed member Gary Norris, who is the only candidate so far to qualify.
In Ward 12, six candidates have picked up their petitions – comprising of Trisha Butler, Jonathan Lockwood, Christopher Adam Walker, David Webb, Joe Shakeenab, and Guy Stanford Jr. As of today, Butler, Webb, and Shakeenab have officially qualified to be on the ballot.
Incumbent Charles Smith remains unopposed in attempts to secure re-election as Clarksville City Judge. He officially qualified on July 15th.
Petitions became available for the position of Circuit Court Clerk on Monday, July 13th, due to Cheryl Castle’s May 21st announcement of her early retirement halfway through her term due to “health and family” reasons. She announced her retirement will become effective August 15th.
Wendy Davis was officially selected as the Republican nominee for Circuit Court Clerk prior to the July 13th official qualifying date, thanks to a party caucus held a few days prior. Any other Republican candidates that would be interested in running would have to be listed as an Independent.
Other potential candidates to pick up petitions for Circuit Court Clerk include Scoop Media Group CEO Jason Steen, Chelsea Camp, and Tracy Provo Knight. Camp and Knight have officially qualified.
The elections for Clarksville City Council, City Judge, and Circuit Court Clerk will take place on November 3rd. City Council and City Judge candidates have until August 20th to qualify. Circuit Court Clerk candidates have until September 9th to qualify. More information regarding candidates, scheduling, and voter information can be found on the Montgomery County and Go Vote TN websites.
