Historically once every four years Smith County voters have elected three candidates from each district to serve on the county commission for the next four years. Smith County has eight districts with three commissioners from each district for a total of 24 commissioners. That will continue to be the case, but the addition of party primaries in May have added a step to the process.
When voters sign in to vote in the May Primary, they will choose either a Republican Ballot or a Democratic Ballot. Voters cannot vote in both primaries in May which means they cannot vote across party lines. They must choose one party ballot,” said Yvonne Gibbs, Smith County Administrator of Elections. “Voters will have the choice to vote for up to three candidates for county commission from the ballot they selected.”
“In the May Primary, Republican voters will be allowed to vote for up to three county commission nominees running from their district who will be listed on the Republican Ballot and Democratic voters will also select up to three county commission nominees from their ballot to represent their respective parties in the August General Election,” she explained. “However, should only two people qualify to be county commission candidates representing a particular political party, then the voters from that party may be limited to two candidate choices instead of three. If five candidates qualify, then voters will vote for three candidates out of the five”
The top three county commission candidates from the Republican ballot and the top three candidates from the Democratic ballot will advance to the August General Election to run against each other along with any Independent Candidates who also qualified by February 17 .
“Theoretically on the August ballot, we could have three Republican Candidates plus three Democratic Candidates along with an unlimited number of Independent Candidates running for county commission from any one district,” she said.
In the August County General Election, voters will be able to vote across party lines and select three choices from all the candidates, whether Republican, Democratic or Independent. The top three candidates receiving the most votes in August will be elected to the county commission seats for that district. “The three elected could be one Republican, one Democrat, and one Independent or any combination of these three types of candidates,” she said.
