School board candidate filing period closes Tuesday

Candidates for the annual school election in September have until noon Tuesday to file their paperwork with the Garland County clerk’s office.

The school election will be held Sept. 19. The filing period opened on Wednesday. Tuesday is also the last day school districts can notify the county of intent to hold a millage vote during the September election.

Candidates filing by petition must file their petition, political practice pledge and affidavit of eligibility with the county clerk. Petitions must contain signatures from at least 20 registered voters who are residents of the school district. Write-in candidates must file notices of intent to be a candidate, pledge and affidavit.

Applications for absentee ballots must be available by July 21, and ballots must be provided to the county clerk’s office by Aug. 3 and delivered by Aug. 4. Polling sites must be determined by Aug. 20, 30 days prior to the election.

The registration deadline vote in the election is Aug. 21. Early voting will be held Sept. 12-15 and Sept. 18. Polls will be open on election day from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Nine seats on Garland County public school district boards are open in this year’s election. Only one seat in the seven county public school districts was contested in 2016 despite 10 openings.

Debbie Ugbade’s fifth three-year term in Position 2 on

the Hot Springs School Board will expire in September. The Position 1 seat is currently held by Karen Reese.

The board reappointed Reese to the board in December after the death of longtime board member Nathaniel L. “Bob” Freeman in November. Freeman was re-elected in 2016. The winning Position 2 candidate will serve the final two years of Freeman’s term.

The Fountain Lake School Board will have two openings for at-large seats. Board President Greg Frank and Sheila Ford, vice president, were unopposed for their three-year terms in 2014.

According to the Garland County clerk’s office, Cutter Morning Star School Board President Mark Rash’s Position 2 seat is up for a vote in this year’s election. He was elected to a five-year term in 2012, temporarily left the board and was unopposed when he ran to rejoin in 2015.

The term for Charles Williams’ seat in Position 4 on the Jessieville School Board will expire in September. He has served on the bard for 15 years.

Mountain Pine School Board President Clayton Miller’s latest five-year term expires this year. He was unopposed in his first two elections in 2007 and 2012.

The five-year term for Lake Hamilton School Board President Mike Tucker’s seat in Position 55 ends in September. He was also unopposed in 2007 and 2012.

Will Maffit, vice president of the Lakeside School Board, was elected to the Position 1 seat in

2012. His term will expire in September.

A new law will adjust the dates of future school board elections. Districts will be able to choose between holding elections with the preferential primary in the spring or the general election in November.

Filing deadlines will correspond with the new election dates and polling sites will be the same as the primary and general elections. The bill became Act

910 of 2017.

Cutter Morning Star recently announced intent to pursue an

8.4-mill increase and extension of 15.5 existing mills in the September election. The increase is intended to allow the district to issue $10.255 million in construction bonds and accept more than

$6.266 million in funding through the state’s Academic Facilities Partnership Program. The funding is designated for the construction of a new high school, which would include a new gymnasium.