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By J.R. Tidwell / Editor

The general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The ballot will include both statewide and local elections as well as votes on four proposed state amendments and one local amendment.

The statewide portion of the ballot is headlined by the race between incumbent Kay Ivey and Walt Maddox for governor.

Races for offices including lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and state auditor will be decided.

Locally, the seven members of the Chilton County Board of Education will be decided.

Brian Jackson, Keith Moore, Lori Patterson, Pam Price, Angie Sanderson, Chris Smith and Paula Thornton were selected in the Republican primary. Democratic candidate Jacqueline Shields Sullivan will now be added to the ballot, with the top seven vote getters elected to the board positions.

Republican Cam Ward faces Democrat Jerry McDonald for the state senator position from District No. 14.

Several local positions were decided in the Republican primary, with the winners of that race running unopposed in the general election.

These positions include Superintendent Jason Griffin, Probate Judge Jason Calhoun, Sheriff John Shearon, Coroner J. Aaron Ellison, Circuit Clerk Glenn McGriff, 19th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Bill Lewis, District No. 42 Representative Jimmy Martin and District No. 49 Representative April Weaver.

The local proposed amendment is worded on the ballot as, “Relating to Chilton County; proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, for those areas of Chilton County outside the corporate limits of any municipality, to authorize the Legislature to establish a procedure by which a dog can be declared dangerous and to provide for a penalty. (Proposed by Act 2018-184)”

The wording of the four state amendments may be found in the sample ballot both in this issue of The Clanton Advertiser as well as online at alabamavotes.gov.

Absentee voting will be available during the general election.

Any registered voter who needs to vote absentee may complete an application for an absentee ballot by Nov. 1 at the circuit clerk’s office located in Room 304 at the courthouse.

The office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m.

For those unable to visit the office in person, a request form may be filled out to have an absentee ballot mailed to them.

According to the office of the Alabama secretary of state, “To obtain an absentee ballot, write or visit the local absentee election manager (usually the circuit clerk), request an absentee ballot, and provide the following:

• Name and residential address (or other such information in order to verify voter registration)
• Election for which the ballot is requested
• Reason for absence from polls on election day
• Address to which the ballot should be mailed
• Voter signature (If a mark is made in place of a signature, it must be witnessed.)

“The absentee ballot application must be returned to the Absentee Election Manager by the voter in person (or by the voter’s designee in the case of medical emergency voting) or by U.S. Mail.  No absentee ballot application may be mailed in the same envelope as another voter’s absentee ballot application.”

The absentee election manager for Chilton County is Glenn McGriff, who can be reached at (205) 755-4275.