December 18, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
Both the DeKalb County Democratic and Republican Parties will hold a primary school board election for districts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 and any other vacancies that may occur on Tuesday May 3, 2022.
“I have received a proper request from the DeKalb Democratic Party to add school board seats to the May 2022 Primary,” said Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley.
Local Democratic Party leaders met on Monday, December 6 to make it official.
“We request a May primary be held for any and all school board offices on the August 2022 ballot, including any vacancies that may occur”, signed by Chairman Billie Ann Tubbs-Trigueros and Secretary Carolyn Hawkins.
The Republican Party Executive Committee met on Monday, November 29 and voted to hold a DeKalb County School Board Republican Primary election on Tuesday May 3, 2022.
Party leaders had until December 10 to notify the election commission of their decision in time for the 2022 elections.
Under a new state law, candidates for local school boards in Tennessee can now run-in partisan races.
For many years local school board elections have been nonpartisan in Tennessee and candidates were barred from campaigning as a nominee or representative of a political party when running for school board.
Now, local political parties are allowed to direct county election officials to hold a party primary for the seats. Even with the change in the law, school board candidates do not have to run as Democrats or Republicans. They could still choose to run as nonpartisan or independents in the county general election as they have for the last several years.
In DeKalb County, there are seven school board positions, but the four-year terms are staggered, meaning five of the school board seats are filled in the same election year while the other two positions are filled in elections two years later. In 2022, the seats up for election are currently held by Danny Parkerson in the 1st district, Alan Hayes in the 2nd district, Jim Beshearse in the 3rd district, Kate Miller in the 4th district, and Shaun Tubbs in the 7th district. The other two up for election in 2024 are Jamie Cripps in the 5th district and Jason Miller in the 6th district.
In a letter to chairs of both the DeKalb County Democratic and Republican Parties, Administrator of Elections Stanley explained that the district offices for school board up for election in 2022 can be added to local party primary ballots in May 2022.
“The General Assembly passed legislation during their recent special session that allows parties to nominate candidates for any school board office. Because you have called a primary in May, you have the option to add school board offices that will appear on the August ballot to the primary. This includes county school districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 7,” said Stanley.
“If you would like to supplement your existing call for a primary to add school board offices, you must file an original written notice with our office no later than the close of business on Friday, December 10, 2021. Like any call for a primary, we request that it be signed by two members of the county executive committee,” Stanley said.
The election commission will begin issuing candidate petitions for the May 3, 2022, primaries on December 20, 2021.