Municipal election to decide mayor, council

Voters will go to the polls on Aug. 23 for the City of Madison municipal election. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – Madison’s municipal election for mayor and seven members of City Council will be held Aug. 23.

The polls will open at 7 a.m. and remain open continuously to vote until 7 p.m.

The following individuals are running for office

* Mayor — Paul Finley, Hanu Karlapalem, Troy Trulock.
* City Council, District 1 — Buck Clemons, James Ross, Maura Wroblewski.
* City Council, District 2– Steve Smith, Devinti M. Williams Esq.
* City Council, District 3 — Destin (D.J.) Klein, Teddy Powell.
* City Council, District 4 — Len Bullington, Brad Johnson, Greg Shaw.
* City Council, District 5 — Tommy Overcash, Daniel Shanahan.
* City Council, District 6 — Gerald Clark, Karen Denzine, Kathryn ‘Kat’ Norman.
* City Council, District 7 — John Seifert, Lena Sledge, Tommy Whitten.

In this election year, social media has played a prominent role both for candidates to communicate to voters and also for residents to state their personal opinions about candidates and the state of the city, in both positive and negative (sometimes sarcastic) tones.

Over the summer, civic organizations sponsored forums for candidates to give a brief talk and then answer questions from the audience. Sponsors included Tennessee Valley Republican Club, Rocket Republic, Madison Public Library and Madison City Council of PTAs, in collaboration with WHNT-TV and Madison City Schools.

One remaining forum, The Mayoral Candidate Debate, will be held Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. at James Clemens High School Auditorium. To submit a question, visit goo.gl/forms/bFRVPvYTJVtnZOqh2, and highlight the displayed text and then type the question. Madison City Council of PTAs is sponsoring this forum.

District 1 residents will vote at Faith Lutheran Church, 660 Gillespie Road. In District 2, residents who live in Madison County will vote at Madison Baptist Church, 840 Balch Road, while residents who live in Limestone County will vote at Lamb of God Lutheran Church, 11716 County Line Road.

District 3 citizens will vote at Madison Mission Seventh-day Adventist Church, 183 Shelton Road. In District 4, residents who live in Madison County will vote at Madison City Hall, 100 Hughes Road, while residents who live in Limestone County will vote at Lamb of God Lutheran Church, 11716 County Line Road.

District 5 voters will go to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 1057 Hughes Road. District 6 residents will vote at Madison Church of Christ, 556 Hughes Road. District 7 residents will vote at Restoration Church, 5810 Wall Triana.

City Clerk-Treasurer Melanie A. Williard said, “Some residents (approximately 8,400 citywide) in every district have two polling locations — one for state/federal/county and one for municipal. I will be sending out reminder postcards prior to Aug. 23 to remind those folks which poll location to go to for the municipal election.”

For an absentee vote, a qualified resident must apply at least five days before the election.

If necessary, a run-off election will be held on Oct. 4.