The general election isn’t until Nov. 7, but another election deadline is looming just around the corner.
Any residents wanting to run in a nonpartisan race must file their paperwork no later than 4 p.m. Tuesday with the county clerk’s office.
Mary Kay Duncan, Owen County Clerk, said it’s important for candidates not to wait until the last minute.
“It’s always helpful if they can come in early,” she said. “We have to go through their petitions and check the names. It’s time consuming.”
Seats up for grabs include mayor positions in Owenton, Gratz, Monterey and Sparta; six city council seats in Owenton and Monterey; four city commission seats in Sparta and Gratz; the district 2 school board seat; the district 5 school board seat, and three soil conservation seats.
Additionally, write-in candidates may file for any vacant seat — such as the fourth-district constable’s seat which had no candidate in the primary — or any other seat up for grabs in the fall primary.
As of Tuesday morning, only six residents had filed for any of the positions available.
They include: Brett McDonald for district 2 school board; C.W. Yancey and David Stewart for the soil conservation board; Harold “Brother” Aldridge and James Goodrich for Gratz City Commissioner; and Robert Osborne for Owenton City Council.
Current seat holders in the school board races are McDonald in district 2 and Terry Patterson in district 5.
Current Owenton City Council members include: Osborne, Doris Riley, Larry Dale Perry, Marc Duvall, Bobby Walker and John Stewart
Gratz City Commissioners are: Ray Smith, Larry Smith, Jerry O’Nan and Robert Floyd.
In Monterey, members of the city council include: Bobbie Riddell, Samuel Raider, Janet Cummins, Virginia Watts and Joe Manypenny.
Holding mayoral seats are David “Milkweed” Wotier in Owenton, Charles Redmon in Gratz and Dennis Atha in Monterey. Deputy County Clerk Joan Kincaid stressed that only residents who live in the city limits of Owenton, Gratz, Monterey and Sparta will be eligible to vote in the mayoral races.
“It doesn’t mean, just because you vote in the Monterey or Gratz precincts, for example, that you can vote in these races,” she explained. “You have to live in the city limits to do so.”
Kincaid said she’d helped one possible write-in candidate fill out paperwork for the constable’s race in district 4. Larry House filed for the position Tuesday morning. She said she expects additional write-in candidates in various seats as well.
“Just don’t wait until the last minute to turn those papers back in,” she said.

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