Knox County Administrator of Elections Greg Mackay explains the City of Knoxville election process, and how the upcoming City primary and general elections work, including the runoff system. Read it, and the list of candidates, after the jump...

An Explanation of the City of Knoxville Election Process

On September 25th, 2007 the City of Knoxville will hold a Primary Election. The Mayor, City Judge, At Large City Council Seats A, B, and C, as well as the City Council District Five Seat will be on the ballot.

The Regular Election will follow on November 6th.

It is possible in both the Mayor’s race and the City Judge contest for the winner to be decided in the Primary Election. If any candidate for either of these two positions receives a majority of the vote (50% + 1), they will be declared the winner.

The City Council races will continue until November 6th. In September voters in the 5th District will vote for the candidate of their choice. The top two candidates will run citywide in the Regular Election in November.

The three At Large seats are similar. They all run citywide in September and the top two vote getters run citywide again in November.

Therefore, in November, all City voters get to choose one candidate from among the top two vote getters in the 5th District and one candidate from among the top two vote getters in each of the three At-Large seats.

Even if there is only one candidate in any of the Council races, the election is not decided until the November 6th Regular Election. The procedure outlined in the City Charter does not change just because a candidate is running unopposed.

Greg Mackay
Administrator of Elections

Here are the candidates for the 2007 City of Knoxville Elections:

City Judge
John R. Rosson, Jr.

City Mayor
Bill Haslam
Isa Infante
Mark Saroff

City Council at Large Seat A
Ray Abbas
Joe Bailey

City Council at Large Seat B
Chris Woodhull

City Council at Large Seat C
Marilyn L. Roddy

City Council 5th District
Bob Becker