Early voting began at the Macon County Election Commission on Wednesday January 16th. Although the mid-January weather has been cold, it has not hampered some from making their voices heard.

630 votes were cast Wednesday January 16th through Monday morning January 21st, said Dianne Cline, Administrator of Elections. Early voting will continue until Thursday January 31st. The election will be held Tuesday February 05, 2008.

The Macon County Election Commission is located at 111 East Locust St. in Lafayette. Offices hours during early voting only are: Monday through Friday from 8:00-4:30 and Saturday 8:00-12:00. On Wednesday January 30th the Election Commission will be open extended hours from 8:00 AM until 6:30 PM.

The Presidential Preference primary plus Democrat and Republican county primary elections are all part of this early voting and Super Tuesday February 5th election.

On the Republican ballot voters choose between Rick Shoulders or Steve Clayborne for local Assessor of Property. Six republican candidates for Road Supervisor are on the ballot: Thomas F. Swindle, Derrick Dickens, William Gregory, Gordon Tucker, J.C. Hall, and Audie Cook.

On the Democratic ballot voters choose between Lonnie R. Jones and Charles “Chop” Porter for Road Supervisor. Jeff Hughes is unopposed for the Democratic nomination for Assessor of Property.

Lengthening the primary ballot are Republican candidates to serve as delegates of the National Republican Convention.

On Tuesday 5 February 2008: 40 of Tennessee's 55 delegates to the Republican National Convention are allocated to presidential contenders in Tennessee's Presidential Primary.

* 27 district delegates, 3 from each of the 9 congressional districts, are to be allocated to the presidential contenders based on the primary results in that district.

* 13 at-large delegates are to be allocated to the presidential contenders based on the primary results statewide.

In each district and statewide, a presidential contender receiving a majority of the votes (more than 50%) will receive all of the National Convention delegates allocated to that contest. However, if no contender receives a majority of the vote, the delegates are to be allocated proportionally to the contentors. A mandatory 20 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be allocated National Convention delegates at either the congressional district or statewide level.

The Macon County General Election and State Primary will be held August 07, 2008. If you are not a registered voter you may register after February 05, 2008 and up until July 08, 2008 to be eligible to vote in August.

Serving on the Macon County Election Commission are Henry Polston -Chairman, Tammy Smith - Secretary, Howard “Butch” Ellis - Member, Obera Morgan - Member and Georgia Ann Boles - Member. Dianne Cline is the Administrator of Elections and Alecia King is the Deputy.

The Election Commission, through the Administrator, is responsible for carrying out the electoral process in accordance with the laws and regulation of the State of Tennessee. This consists of such things as:

the hiring and training of all election workers, purchase of all necessary supplies such as ballots, the layout of ballots, getting approval on the layout of the ballots from the State of Tennessee, programming all of the voting machines, tabulating all votes so that each and every vote is counted, reporting all election results to the media, and reporting all election results to the State of Tennessee.