By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–Meeting in special session Monday evening, the Henry County Election Commission established and approved the precinct boundaries that have been under discussion for the past few months.
Ten polling places have been designated and will be in use for the next election, which is May 3.
The May 3 state and county election will be a Republican primary, after the Henry County Democratic Party did not call for a primary for their party.
August 3 is the State and Federal Primary and State and County General Election.
On the upcoming ballot will be judicial races, including both the Circuit Court and General Sessions/Juvenile Judgeships.
Long-time Circuit Court Judge Parish has already announced his intention to retire and not seek reelection. The Circuit Court Judge represents five counties.
Elections Administrator DeLaina Green said although the May 3 election will be a Republican primary, Independent candidates can run as long as they meet the qualifying criteria.
Two candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring for Circuit Court Judge: Benton County Attorney Terry Leonard and Hardin County Attorney Vance Dennis.
Green said the deadline for picking up petitions to run for the offices on the May 3ballot is December 20 and the qualifying deadline is February 17.
As previously reported, the following are new precinct locations:
District 1: Harrelson School, Cottage Grove Baptist Church.
District 2: Henry School, New Harmony Baptist Church.
District 3: Paris Landing Community Center, Lakewood School.
District 4: Grove School, Central School.
District 5: Henry County High School, TCAT.
All of the new precinct locations are secure, ADA accessible, have adequate parking, Green noted, “all of which eliminates a lot of the problems the other polling places had”. Henry County previously had 13 precincts.
The public will be notified of the ew precinct locations when new voter registration cards are sent out, Green said, and through the local media.
The election commission is moving ahead with the concept of voting centers which would replace precincts following the state’s push for voting centers. Green has said vote centers would be more cost-effective and the centers more feasible for the above-stated reasons. Under the vote center plan, all voters could vote at any vote center on Election Day, not just at their assigned precinct.
However, the vote center concept will not be utilized until the year 2024, but the planning process has been ongoing for the past several months, including public meetings and a public forum.
Photo: Administrator DeLaina Green points out the new precincts for Election Commissioners (from left) Art Smith, Randy Geiger, Sylvia Humphreys, Bennie Akers. Chairman Stephen Goggans was just out of view of photo. Shannon McFarlin photo.