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County to see one contested race in September school board elections

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Voting Clipart

NASHVILLE – Howard County will see one contested school board race in the upcoming election cycle.
At the close of the filing period Tuesday, the County Clerk’s office reported that incumbents Dillard “Bubba” McSpadden in Dierks and Randy Elliot in Nashville drew no opponents and will run unchallenged on election day, Sept. 15. In Mineral Springs, however, incumbent Robert “Ray” Hawkins will again be facing opposition from D.E. Ray.
Hawkins is currently serving his first term in the seat, which represents the Midway, Social Hill, Bluff Springs and Wakefield communities, and is up for re-election only because he drew the shortest term when the board was reformed last October. Reached for comment on the race Wednesday, Hawkins declined to make a statement.
Ray, who also sought the seat during the last election cycle and served briefly on the county’s election commission before narrowly losing a Quorum Court race to JP Jeannie Gorham last year, said that he is again running for the school board in Mineral Springs out of a desire to improve the community.
“Good schools make good communities. There are things that I’ve wanted to see at Mineral Springs schools for a while now – and those things haven’t changed since the last time I ran. We still need something, some program, to anchor and focus the school,” Ray explained. “We can expand and improve our music program to the point that it draws students into the district. We can bring in a pre-military program, which would help, since nearly a third of students graduating from Mineral Springs go into the military. There are lots of options – but we need to pick one and do it.”
Ray is currently employed as managing editor of The Nashville News.
Early voting in the race will begin Sept. 8 at 8 a.m. and conclude Sept. 14 at 4:30 p.m., although it will not be available the weekend of Sept. 12-13. Only voters who are residents of Zone 5 in and around Mineral Springs are eligible to cast ballots.

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