Derrick Miller
DUNCAN — The April 6 election is coming up, but to vote, people have to be registered.
In the election, the Duncan Public School bond, two Duncan City Council races and the Marlow Board of Education runoff will be up for vote. The cutoff date to vote in the April 6 election is March 12.
Peggy Winton, Stephens County Election Board secretary, said, “Being able to exercise freedom to vote. You have a say in your federal, state and county level by voting.”
Of the upcoming elections, the Duncan school bond is getting the most attention. While the council and school board runoff elections have only certain people in the district who are eligible to vote, any registered voter in the Duncan School District will be able to vote on the school bond issue.
The bond issue seeks $118 million to build a three-building elementary campus, make extensive renovations to the Duncan High School and build new extracurricular facilities.
The two seats for the Duncan City Council up for grabs are seats 3 and 4.
Those who have filed for seat 3 are incumbent Tommy Edwards and Clyde Shaw, who is employed as the Duncan city manager. In the February 2007 election, Edwards received 79.9 percent of the vote.
In the seat 4 position, incumbent Ricky Mayes will be up against John Herdt. Herdt had been appointed to the seat in July 2006, but wasn’t elected when he came up against Mayes in February 2007. Mayes won the election with 54.1 percent of the vote.
Aside from the elections in Duncan, Marlow also has a runoff election slated for April 6.
The runoff election for the Marlow Board of Education bids Cody Bannister against Terry Turner. Neither has served on the school board.
In the Feb. 9 school election, Bannister received 40.46 percent of the vote, and Turner garnered 29.46 percent of the vote. Since neither received at least 51 percent of votes cast, a runoff election was needed.
People can register to vote by filling out the registration application and submitting it either to the election board or to the tag agency. People who will be 18 on or before the election are eligible to vote, but they must also submit their applications by the March 12 cutoff date, Winton said.
She said people have already started registering to vote in the April 6 election, and she hopes to see more people turn in their applications.
“It’s increasing a little bit,” Winton said.
— Derrick Miller is a reporter for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 160, or via e-mail at derrick.miller@duncanbanner.com.
