Editor’s note: (R) denotes a Republican candidate, (D) denotes a Democratic candidate and (I) denotes an Independent candidate.

Elected positions such as governor, U.S. senator and U.S. House representative will all be present on the Nov. 8 ballot. However, this midterm season will also see a number of local representatives up for election. 

Marvin Day (R) is running unopposed for Craighead County judge. This will be his second term. 

“Our big thing we’re working on is improvements to our part of the criminal justice system,” Day said. “Specifically, the first project we’re working on is additional jury courtroom space. We’ve hired an architect, we’re working on plans as we speak and hopefully we’ll break ground sometime next year.”

Day said other goals for this term included investigating the amount of space needed in jails and prisons, improving county roads and keeping pay competitive. 

Mary Dawn Marshall (R) is running unopposed for Craighead County clerk. 

Marshall said her goals for this term included updating the county clerk office’s marriage software and continuing with cross training. Cross training allows one person to fill another person’s role properly.

“It’s kind of hard because everybody has their specific duties within the office. There’s only (nine of us) so cross training is a little difficult because everybody has their daily duties, but if someone can step in and get a process started, then when that person comes back from vacation, or maybe they’re sick, then we can keep the momentum going,” Marshall said.

David Vaughn (R) is running against Deborah Johnson (D) for circuit clerk. 

“We want to make the home office more transparent. We want to revamp the website and revamp the Facebook page to include a lot more detail,” Vaughn said when describing his term goals. “ I think it’s something we can accomplish, along with updating the technology side of it to make things more efficient and easier for the clerk and clientele to work with.”

If elected to circuit clerk, Johnson is interested in improving the jury system with MyJuryInfo, an online software that allows potential jurors to fill out their paperwork online instead of using mailed forms. 

Johnson also wants to take away some of the public’s fear surrounding going to a courthouse office. 

“They’re really uncertain when they call or when they stop by and I would do my best and make sure the other team members do their best to just put people at ease and then do whatever we could to help them because it’s a scary thing,” Johnson said. “It’s an intimidating place, but it doesn’t have to be.”

Both Johnson and Vaughn would like to upgrade the clerk office’s paperwork processing system. 

Wes Eddington (R) is running unopposed as Craighead County tax collector. He has served as tax collector for six years. 

This term, he plans to train collector’s office employees to provide better explanations to taxpayers so they are not jumping back and forth between the assessor and tax collector’s offices.

“We send out roughly 55,000 tax statements a year,” Eddington told KLEK 102.5. “There needs to be that separation of duties to get the job done properly.”

Toby Emerson (R) is running unopposed as Craighead County coroner. He has served as coroner for 42 years. 

“We’re the Craighead County coroner’s office, we investigate deaths within our county. We’ll just keep doing the job we’ve always done,” Emerson said. 

Sheriff Marty Boyd (R) is running unopposed for Craighead County sheriff. He has served as sheriff for nine years.

“One (issue) that is very dear to me is our crime issue,” Boyd told KLEK 102.5. “It is a multitude of problems that we have to address from the community leaders to the administrators of the cities and the counties and the state levels to the federal level. We have to progress and see that new technologies and new ideas come along that we have to utilize.”

Boyd wants to focus on reducing violent crime. He told KLEK 102.5 that they “can’t arrest their way out of the problem” and instead need to provide opportunities for criminals to change their lives. He will also work on targeting repeat violent crime offenders by not providing parole. 

There were no filings for the office of constable for Districts 1, 4 and 8. 

Roger Watkins (R) is running for District 2, Leon Poley (D) for District 3, Donald Mullenix (R) for District 5, Lynn Tackett (R) for District 6, Danny Williford (R) for District 7, Scott Davis (R) for District 9, Jerry Allison (R) for District 10, Shannon Kelems (I) for District 12 and Scott Armstrong (R) for District 13. All are running unopposed.

David Chadwick (D) is running for constable for District 11 against Chris Ayers (R).

Brad Noel (R) is running for justice of the peace for District 1 against Jolene Mullet (D). 

For District 2, Garrett Barnes (D) is running against Justin Etter (R).

For District 3, Carolyn Lewis (D) is running against Barry Forrest (R). In District 4, Linda Allison (R) is running against Vince Pearcy.

For District 5, Donna Eggers (R) is running against Barbara Weinstock (I). Darrell Cook is running unopposed for District 6. 

Steven Summers (D) is running against Richard Rogers (R) for District 7.

David Tennison (R) is running for District 8, Josh Longmire (R) is running for District 9 and Steve Cline (R) is running for District 10. Dan Pasmore (R) is running for District 11, Terry Couch (R) for District 12 and Kevin Williams (R) for District 13. All are running unopposed.

Hannah Towell (R) is running for Craighead County assessor, Sue Gurley (I) is running for eastern district deputy circuit clerk, Chris Kelems (R) is running for eastern district deputy sheriff, Michael Daniels (D) is running for county surveyor and Terry McNatt (R) is running for Craighead County treasurer. All are running unopposed.

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