Early voting for local municipal and school board elections ended Tuesday at 7 p.m. Now, it’s up to citizens to cast their votes on Election Day this Saturday, May 4, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting ballots will include candidates for City Council, School Board and any bonds that are up for election.
Whitesboro
The two-year terms of aldermen Ben Edwards, Stacey Miles and John Moore are up for re-election. The one-year term of Colby Meals (who was appointed to replace a vacant seat) is also up for re-election. Candidates for the two-year terms are Edwards, Miles, Moore, former city inspector Johnny Carnes, Mike Pack, and Ronnie Fielder. Running against Meals is Su Welch, wife of former mayor Dee Welch.
The Whitesboro ISD has two three-year terms available, currently held by president Jeff Patterson and Kevin Hartless. Both are running for re-election and are challenged by Whitney Walsh-Sietz, Nicole Hawkins and Caleigh Latta.
Whitesboro ISD will also be having a bond election. The district has announced a call for a $118 million, two-part bond. Proposition A is for $100 million and includes the construction of an early childhood center, high school auditorium addition, high school CTE addition, agri-science arena and district renovations for safety/security and busing. Proposition B is for $18 million and includes a multi-purpose event center. To learn more about the bond, see the March 26, 2024 issue of the News-Record or visit www.whitesboroisdbond.com.
Collinsville
For city council, aldermen Thomas Worsham Jr., Stephen McDaniel and Chase Guidera (who was appointed to a vacant seat) are up for re-election. Worsham, Guidera, Jessica Orsburn and Brandon White are running for these seats. Nobody filed to run for the one-year term, so this position will be appointed by the council after the election.
Collinsville ISD has two seats available. Carrie Crane in Place 5 and Justin McDonnell in Place 4 both have three-year terms that expire this year. Only the incumbents filed, so there will be no school board election this year.
S&S
The S&S CISD school board has two openings as the terms of Sean Turner (Place 5) and Chris Lopez (Place 6) expire this May. Tommy Carney and Brian Clark are running for the Place 5 seat. Lopez, Randall Leach, Jeffrey McSpedden and Andrew Reeves are running for the Place 6 seat.
Tioga
There are three two-year seats open for Tioga City Council. The Place 1 seat (currently held by Kurt Hall), Place 3 seat (currently held by Jim Coffey) and Place 5 seat (currently held by Heather Nesmith) are open for election.
Incumbent Hall filed unopposed for Place 1. Coffey and Alton Rhymes both filed for Place 3, however Rhymes’ application was rejected due to not being registered to vote in the city of Tioga so Coffey will run unopposed. For Place 5, Nesmith and Logan Peterson both filed to run.
Tioga will also hold a special election (on the same date of general elections) to fill the unexpired one-year term for Place 4. The vacancy was created when former council member Jamie Skaggs resigned prior to moving out of the city. William Fritcher has filed unopposed.
Tioga ISD will have openings for Seat 2 (currently held by Dallas Slay), Seat 5 (currently held by Dugan Rainey) and Seat 6 (currently held by Stacy Price). Slay and Patty Wheeler have filed for Seat 2 and incumbents Rainey and Price will run unopposed for their respective seats.
Tioga ISD is also calling for a bond in this election. They’re hoping to pass $26,305,000 in bonds to refinance the bonds used to build the current high school. Refinancing will enable the district to pay for the school out of Interest & Sinking (I&S) funds, typically used for construction projects, as opposed to its Maintenance & Operations (M&O) funds, which are typically used for utilities, salaries and other day-to-day operations. Read more about the bond at tiogaisd.net.
To learn more about all of these City Council and School Board candidates, see the April 12, 2024 issue of the News-Record. According to votetexas.gov, voting on Election Day, May 4, is happening at Whitesboro City Hall, the Collinsville Community Center, Sadler Baptist Church, Southmayd Elementary and the Tioga Fire Station from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Results are typically posted that same night.