We live in the greatest county in the world, a land of democracy, where we can hire and, yes, fire our government leaders; if we can keep straight when to vote.  Early voting, Election Day itself and frequency of elections has contributed to some confusion among the electorate.

This year we can express our opinions three different times. Some of us may have missed the first one on March 5 for the Presidential primaries. Nevertheless, you have the chance to make your voice heard by going to the polls two more times in 2024.

The next time for the polls to be open is Thursday, Aug. 1 for state and federal primaries as well as county general elections. Primary elections will be held for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representative, Tennessee Senate since we have an even numbered district of 16 and Tennessee House of Representatives. Also general elections will be held for property assessor and districts two, four and six school board members. If you are interested in one of the aforementioned positions, the qualifying deadline just happens to be Thursday, April 4 at noon. I hope you have already started with your petition.

To give us, as voters, a better guide to the qualifications for property assessor my research has discovered extremely loose restrictions for this important position. Very basically, a candidate must be a citizen of the United States and resident and qualified voter of Warren County for a minimum of one year and cannot be a member of the county commission. There were a few other specifications such as no criminal activity and foreign or domestic military responsibilities that can easily be clarified by our election commission. The real point is there is no mention whatsoever about previous knowledge or experience about property assessment. Interesting!

So, left to our consideration is the determination of who is the best qualified to assess our property within the framework provided by the State of Tennessee guidelines.

Candidates for this office as well as the school board candidates and the other contested races have invested time and dollars to be public servants. They deserve our respect by having the votes counted and our wishes heard. Let us all express our thoughts by voting on Aug. 1 and again on Nov. 5. Let us set a goal of 80 percent of registered voters who will cast a ballot. Do not forget that early voting counts toward the totals on these election days.

Since I've reached the end of my column space, I will continue the coverage on the November election next week.

Standard contributor Don Alexander can be contacted at dalexander@southernstandard.com