After two years of making the Elvis candlelight vigil more about who paid and getting people in line, Graceland said Wednesday the vigil will return to being a free event next August – no admission, no buying packages that include the vigil. The timing on this is interesting coming about two weeks after the 2018 edition of the vigil.

2. Obama Carries Shelby, Cohen Over Flinn and Two Tax Hikes Defeated - Wednesday, November 7, 2012

President Barack Obama carried Shelby County in unofficial Nov. 6 election returns as his Republican challenger Mitt Romney took the state’s 11 electoral votes.

Voter turnout in the most popular election cycle among Shelby County voters was 61.9 percent, about the same percentage as four years ago. But the 371,256 voters is fewer than 2008 when more than 400,000 Shelby County voters cast ballots. The percentage is about the same because there are fewer registered voters in Shelby County than there were four years ago after a purge by election officials.

3. Shelby Early Vote Shows Cohen Winning - Two Tax Questions Losing - Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Early vote totals from Shelby County were released just before 10 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 6, after the vote count was delayed in part by long lines of voters waiting to vote at the 7 p.m. closing of polls.

4. Suburban School Board Races Almost Set - Friday, August 17, 2012

Races on the Nov. 6 ballot for six sets of suburban school boards took shape Thursday, Aug. 16, at the noon filing deadline for candidate qualifying petitions.

The candidates that made the deadline have another week to withdraw from the races if they wish.

5. Board to Make Ad Hoc Choices - Thursday, August 16, 2012

Countywide school board members meet Thursday, Aug. 16, to take another step toward the selection of a single superintendent to oversee the schools merger process.

The board meets at 5 p.m. at Overton High School before the latest in a series of public forums at the school on the proposed schools consolidation blueprint.

6. GOP Politics Resemble 2008 In Tennessee - Thursday, March 8, 2012

This time around, leaders of the Tennessee Republican Party were convinced their choice in the Republican presidential contest would be a match with voters in the state’s presidential primary.

Four years ago, when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee carried Shelby County and took the state, the party argued convincingly that the state’s second choice for the nomination – former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney – was a victim of the move of the Super Tuesday primaries to February.

7. Santorum Carries Shelby and State, Jackson Out As Clerk - Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum carried Shelby County and the state of Tennessee in the Tuesday, March 6, Republican Presidential primary.

And incumbent but suspended General Sessions Court Clerk Otis Jackson finished a poor third in a Democratic primary battle for the clerk’s office that was won by interim clerk Ed Stanton in the closest contest of the night over County Commission chairman Sidney Chism.

8. Voters Turn Out Today For Primary Races - Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The first thing parishioners at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church noticed before noon Mass, Sunday, March 4, was a line of black SUVs in the parking lot of the Cordova church. A back row at the church was filled with men wearing the same color suits.

9. Primary Battle Starts Locally With Early Voting - Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Early voting in the Tennessee presidential primary begins Wednesday, Feb. 15, but the Republican presidential contenders have Arizona and Michigan on their minds.

The early voting period in advance of the March 6 Election Day also includes a set of Shelby County primaries for General Sessions Court clerk, Shelby County district attorney general, property assessor and one Shelby County Commission seat. The winners in those primaries advance to the August county general election ballot.

10. Woodward Joins Crowded Primary - Friday, January 27, 2012

A public meeting is about to begin, and within one minute of attendees’ arrival, they are handed campaign literature for rival candidates running in the same local primary.

It’s obviously the thick of political season.

11. Election Commission Website Causes Confusion - Monday, December 19, 2011

The information was there somewhere on the www.shelbyvote.com website, Shelby County Election Commission staffers insist.

It was just somewhere that most politicos interested in basic information about the four countywide races on the March 6 primary ballot couldn’t find.

12. County Primary Ballot Set With 3 Exits and 2 DQs - Friday, December 16, 2011
One of the four sets of Shelby County primaries on the March 6 ballot was decided at the Thursday, Dec. 15, deadline for candidates to withdraw from the ballot.

The Shelby County Election Commission Thursday certified 16 candidates in the two sets of primaries for four county offices and one independent candidate who advances automatically to the Aug. 2 county general elections.

13. Commission To Pick School Board Members - Monday, September 12, 2011

Shelby County Commissioners take the final step Monday, Sept. 12, to the creation of a new countywide school board that will take office in three weeks.

The commission meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Vasco Smith County Administration Building, 160 N. Main St.

14. County Commission Interviews School Board Applicants - Thursday, September 8, 2011

It took Shelby County Commissioners nearly 10 hours Wednesday, Sept. 7, to interview nearly 100 contenders for seven appointments to the countywide school board that takes office Oct. 1.

The general government committee session with the applicants is a good indicator of what is likely to happen Monday when the full commission makes the appointments. The seven non-binding straw polls of the commission included selections by most of the 13-member body. But they selected either three or four finalists each which means there will probably a lot of shifts in votes Monday when commissioners are limited to one vote each.