As Dallas County voters prepare for presidential election, local races are quiet

The Nov. 5 ballot is topped by the biggest race there is in U.S. politics, but things are much quieter when you get down to the local races in Dallas County.  

In fact, some local races don’t even have a candidate printed on the ballot. 

Dallas County voters will of course vote for president on Nov. 5, and incumbent Congresswoman Terri Sewell is running for reelection against Republican challenger Robin Litaker.  

Democrat Greg Griffin and Republican Sarah Stewart are running for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Five justices are running unopposed for their seats on the court. Candidates for the Court of Civil Appeals, Court of Criminal Appeals and the Public Service Commission follow, all of whom are unopposed.  

In the race for District 5 of the State Board of Education, Dallas County voters will find Tonya Smith Chestnut, a Democrat from Selma, is facing off against Republican David W. Perry. 

Dallas County Circuit Court Judge Collins Pettaway Jr. and Circuit Clerk Lynnethia Robinson Bennett are running unopposed, as is Jimmy Nunn.

As Dallas County probate judge and chairman of the Dallas County Commission, Nunn is in charge of the election.  

For the Dallas County Commission, Connel “Big Daddy” Towns Sr. in District 1 and Curtis Williams in District 3 are unopposed. Vivian Rogers and Ronald Kenan Sawyer are running for the District 2 seat. William Lumpkin is facing off against Barry Lorenzo Allen for the District 4 seat.  

Allen is running as an independent after the secretary of state ruled he was ineligible to run in the March Democratic primary because he didn’t turn in the required statement of economic interest form by the state’s deadline.  

Dallas County School Board member Melvin Flanagan-Brown was also declared ineligible to run in the Democratic primary because she missed the deadline. No candidate is listed for her seat. Nunn said he understood Flanagan-Brown has organized a write-in campaign to retain her seat.  

Mamie Williams Solomon is running unopposed to keep her Dallas County School Board seat in District 3.  

A constable is a peace officer elected by voting precinct. Thirty such positions are available in Dallas County, but voters in only two precincts will find a name for constable on their ballot. Jarmal Jabbar Sanders is running for constable in precinct D13S and Willis Chappell is running in precinct D34E.  

Five candidates for constable in other precincts were declared ineligible to run in the March primary because they also missed the deadline to turn in their financial interest statements.  

Nunn said there will be 49 different ballots in Dallas County to accommodate districts and precincts.  

Polls will open at 7 a.m. and will close at 7 p.m. Nunn said if everything goes right, his staff will have results uploaded to the secretary of state’s website by 10 p.m.