FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County candidates are preparing for the preferential primary election and making plans to capture the attention of voters on Election Day.
Five Washington County positions will be decided in the primary March 1. Those are county collector, districts 9 and 13 for justice of the peace and districts 2 and 3 for constable.
Seven races will be decided in the general election Nov. 8. Those are county judge, county assessor and districts 3, 5, 8, 11 and 14 justice of the peace.
Other officials have no election challenger, including Sheriff Tim Helder, Treasurer Bobby Hill and County Clerk Becky Lewallen.
No one filed as a write-in candidate at the county level this year. That means positions for which one party is contesting the seat will be decided by the preferential primary election, said Jennifer Price, election commission coordinator.
The stage is set for at least one hotly contested position between two Democrats to be decided in March.
County Judge Marilyn Edwards will face Justice of the Peace Eva Madison for her District 9 Quorum Court seat.
Edwards did not return a phone call Friday.
Edwards has been county judge since 2009. She has a long history in local and state government, according to her online biography on the county website. Edwards has served as county clerk and was elected to three terms to the Arkansas House of Representatives.
Madison said she has proven her leadership skills during her three terms as a justice of the peace. Madison looks for ways to do things better, she said.
"I don't think the way we have always done it should be our standard -- we should always strive to do better," Madison said.
Madison and Edwards have been at odds over several issues this year.
Edwards has said she believed Madison promoted some ideas -- including not fulfilling capital requests from Edwards' departments -- out of spite.
Justices of the peace, the county judge and department heads have bickered during public meetings in which officials attempt to trim millions from the county's $62 million budget.
But Edwards' decision to file for the justice of the peace position left open the county judge seat.
Two Democrats and a Republican have filed to compete for the job.
Fayetteville Alderman Mark A. Kinion will square off with Josh Mahony, president of the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund, for the Democratic nomination in March. Kinion is a loan officer with Bank of Arkansas Mortgage.
Whoever wins must defeat state Rep. Micah S. Neal, a Republican from Springdale, in the general election.
Kinion, Neal and Mahony said the divide between the county judge and justices of the peace must be healed.
"We all have the same goal of having good government," Kinion said. "I think that's the most important thing a county judge can do is to manage the business of the county and not get tied up in partisan politics."
Washington County faced controversy earlier his year when the state found two county-built bridges did not meet engineering standards. Edwards is over the Road Department, which built the bridges.
One bridge, Harvey Dowell, had its weight limit lowered to 3 tons, but the bridge's repairs are basically finished, said Shawn Shrum, assistant road superintendent. The limit was removed Friday, which brought the bridge's weight limit back up to 40 tons, he said.
Stonewall bridge, however, remains closed.
Officials hope to reopen it in December, Shrum said.
County-level government positions directly affect residents, but voters often don't cast ballots in those races, said Janine Parry, political science professor at the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas.
"These positions actually do make a pretty big difference in the actual life of a person," Parry said. "A lot of our day-to-day experiences are connected to the county."
Voters sometimes will stop voting after they choose national and state candidates. They miss their chances to vote on important positions closer to home, Parry said.
Voters should pay attention to county-level races, Parry said. Those positions influence how tax money is spent, she said.
The Quorum Court holds sway over millions of dollars, Madison said.
"What we do as JPs is very important because of how much money -- how much taxpayer money -- we are in charge of," she said.
The county judge oversees services like road maintenance, the animal shelter, planning and emergency services, Parry said. The county collector collects tax money and then distributes millions to cities, the county and schools, said Teresa Soares, head bookkeeper at the department.
"You really need someone in the collector's position who is knowledgeable," Soares said.
Soares is running against Angela Wood for collector. Both are running on the Republican ticket.
Candidates said Friday they want to serve their communities. They carefully picked what positions to run for, they said.
"I really feel like it is my responsibility to give back," Madison said. "This (justice of the peace position) is the job that I want. I don't have any desire to be county judge."
County judge candidates on the other hand said the judge position fit their leadership style or business experience. But every position is important, Parry and others said. People should go out and vote and vote the entire ballot, Neal said.
"My hope is that everyone will go out and vote and vote the whole ballot," Neal said. "Every position affects (residents) in a different way."
NW News on 11/16/2015