News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Putnam County Republican Party supports partisan elections for school board members.
Governor Bill Lee signed the legislation Friday that gives communities the option. Assistant Vice-Chairman AJ Donadio said voters have limited visibility on school board elections, so affiliating to a party will give voters more insight at the polls.
“It lets you know where people stand on important issues,” Donadio said. “Because if somebody is running for something, you need to know what they believe in. It gets down to values more so than politics.”
Donadio said the county’s Republican Party has already voted in favor of the partisan elections in anticipation of the new legislation. Donadio said a letter of support should be coming to the county’s Election Commission for consideration.
“In fact, the Putnam County Republican Party in anticipation of Governor Lee signing this bill went ahead and already voted overwhelmingly in favor of partisan elections for the school board,” Donadio said. “So that’s already on its way to the election commission. I don’t know if the letter has been transmitted as we speak, but if not, it’s on its way.”
Donadio said often times, school board elections do not have as much information on candidates as other elections. Donadio said by running partisan, it can give viewpoints on key issues such as critical race theory and masks.
“The school board, the county commission, the city council that’s as local as it gets and if you don’t have a whole lot of information… let’s face it, people aren’t spending $100,000 typically to run for these offices,” Donadio said. “Very often you don’t have debates, you don’t have television time typically, so you need to know where people stand, and it’s all about making sure the voter knows who they are voting for and what their core policies are.”
Donadio said the Putnam County Republican Party will do its part to vet candidates to make sure those that claim Republican stand for those core values.
