Carroll County residents will step into voting booths Tuesday and choose candidates for national, state and local offices, including two that are being vacated by familiar names.

Clerk of Court Kenneth Skinner and Tax Commissioner Jean Matthews are both stepping down after serving for decades. Three candidates are challenging for Skinner’s office in a race that will be determined in Tuesday’s Republican primary. The primary will also determine a Republican to run in November’s general election against a Democrat in the tax commissioner race.

There will also be competition in the primary for seats on the Carroll County Board of Commissioners, as well as the state Legislature and the U.S. Senate.

And in Bowdon, voters will decide in a special election whether the city can issue licenses to sell liquor by the drink.

District 18 State House

Republicans Mark Butler and Kevin Cooke launched major advertising campaigns across the county, including billboards and extravagant floats in this year’s July 4 People’s Parade in Carrollton, in the hopes of receiving their party’s nod in the primary, which would propel them to an unopposed win in the November general election.

Butler, 37, has served three terms, or six years, in the state House of Representatives. He is self-employed, and works for Appraisal Associates in Carrollton. In 2006, Butler was named vice-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees all spending requests for the House of Representatives. His accomplishments during his tenure in the House include creating a state reservoir-building fund to help assist local governments pay for reservoirs and other water-resource projects. One of his primary goals in office has been reforming the Department of Human Resources, the massive state agency responsible for public health services, family and children services and others.

“The campaign is going good. We’re working hard, and we’re getting our message out,” Butler said. “I’ve tried to represent everyone equally. I have a proven track record of looking out for the 18th District.”

His opponent, the 28-year-old Cooke, works for Duffey Appraisals Inc. in Carrollton as a real estate appraiser. He previously worked as a police officer in Athens. He lives in Carrollton with his wife, Crystal. He graduated from Carrollton High School in 1998, and went on to play baseball at the University of West Georgia before transferring to the University of Georgia. He graduated in 2003 with a degree in sports studies.

The race has become heated at times, with Cooke accusing Butler of lacking fiscal conservative values, to which Butler has countered by saying he has worked to keep the state budget to a minimum during his time in office. Another issue that both men have addressed often throughout the campaign is the state’s role in dealing with undocumented immigrants, with Butler arguing the federal government needs to take greater responsibility in the matter and Cooke countering that prevention starts on the state level.

“As a state we should make it that private businesses or the government has to check citizenship before giving out benefits,” Cooke said.

District 5 Board of Commissioners

Republicans Kirby Hamil, Kevin Jackson and incumbent Randy Simpkins are vying for the seat.

Simpkins, 39, has served on the commission for eight years. A graduate of Central High School, he went on to graduate with honors at the University of West Georgia with a degree in political science. He has also attended and graduated from the Naval Nuclear Power School/Nuclear Prototype Training School, the County Commissioner training school and the Carroll County Leadership Academy. With his wife Christal, Simpkins has three sons ages 15, 13 and 10.

The only retiree running for the position, Hamil, 70, was the former chairman of the Carroll County Water Authority. A Carroll County native, Hamil moved to Roopville in 1950, where he has lived since. He used to raise cattle but now leases out the land.

Jackson, 39, works as a lineman for Carroll Electric Membership Corp. He works on the electric lines around the county, climbing the electric poles and handling the transformers at the top. A graduate of Central High School, Jackson served as vice president of the Carroll County Chapter of the Christian Coalition in the late 1990s and formed the Snake Creek Property Owners Association four years ago.

All of the candidates stressed the importance of managing water in the county, as well as protecting the rural lifestyle of farmers and cattlemen by avoiding such large developments as Wolf Creek.

District 3 Board of Commissioners

The candidates echoed similar concerns about the dangers of runaway development. Republicans Jeff Nalley, Bryan Hager and Ashley Hendrix each stressed the importance of keeping large developments out, though each would bring much different backgrounds to the office.

Nalley, 51, graduated from Carrollton High School in 1976. He has worked in the maintenance department of Georgia Power for 27 years.

An employee of Nationwide Insurance, Hendrix, 32, lives off of Highway 113 with her husband, Scott. The Oak Mountain Academy graduate attended the University of West Georgia where she graduated with a business administration degree. She is the co-owner of Hendrix farms, dealing in poultry and cattle.

The mother of two children, Hendrix hopes that if elected, she can help create a bright future for the younger generation.

“I would hope that [the county] would be balanced,” she said. “I hope it would have the character of communities. I hope the children and the future generation grow up to know their neighbors and that somebody is looking out for them.”

Hager, 47, lives with his wife, Wendy Crager, on the Crager Hager Farm between Centerpoint and Bowdon Junction. Hager ran unsuccessfully against Tim Bearden for the state House of Representatives in 2004. He is president of Farmers’ Fresh Food Network, “a cooperative of 20 small farms in West Georgia and East Alabama that markets sustainably grown fruits, vegetables and meats.” Hager was executive director for the Georgia chapter Sierra Club between 2000 and 2005.

The winner will face Democrat and local lawyer Mac Pilgrim in the general election to succeed Bill Head, who chose not to seek reelection.

Clerk of Court

Republicans Lucy Beck, Kaye Burson and Alan Lee are all vying for the position held by Kenneth Skinner for 35 years.

An associate vice president with Nationwide Insurance, Beck, 47 is a resident of the Burwell community and a member of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Carrollton. She has served as the chair of the Carroll County Taxpayer Protection Committee and was appointed by the Carroll County Board of Commissioners to the Regional Development Authority. She is also the co-founder of Operation Thank You, an agency working to help seniors live on a fixed income.

Burson, 53, has lived in Carroll County for the last 30 years. She was employed with Southwire Corp. for 24 years before taking the job as deputy clerk in the Superior Court of Coweta County, a position she has held since 2001. Her sister, Cindy Brown, is clerk of court in Coweta. Burson has two children, Nick, 28, and Brooke, 19.

A longtime employee of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Lee, 41, is a native of Carroll County and now lives in the Tyus community. While serving in the military, he was trained to work on conventional and nuclear weapons systems for B-52 aircraft, before taking a job as a jailer in the sheriff’s department in 1995. He is a life-long member of Bethesda Baptist Church and serves as chairman on the deacon board.

The candidates agreed the clerk’s office needed to do more to employ technology in the day-to-day operations, discussing the possibility of automating court records in future years.

“The county has continued to grow, and as we grow we have to figure out how to do more with less,” Beck said. “And technology is a key enabler to that.”

Tax Commissioner

The candidates have stressed the importance of making the office more accessible to the citizens of the county. The winner among Republican candidates Bob Uglum, Trent Marlow and Vickie Bearden will compete against Democrat Selassie Wallace in the November election.

The former owner of The Maple Street Mansion, Uglum, 52, moved to Carroll County from Atlanta in 1982 and bought the restaurant two years later. He was awarded the Small Business Person of the Year Award by the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce in 1998 and is the former president of the Carrollton Kiwanis Club. He and wife Pam have two sons, John Dean and Parker.

Having spent time around the tax commissioners office in recent years as the county government’s internal auditor, Marlow, 35, is a Certified Public Accountant. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of West Georgia. Before coming to the county government, Marlow worked for eight years as an accountant at Garrett, Stephens, Thomas & Fazio PC, a local accounting firm. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and has served in leadership roles with the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Bearden, 50, serves as deputy tax commissioner and auto tag office supervisor. She was born in Atlanta, and graduated from Paulding County High School. She has lived in Carroll County 32 years with her husband, Greg, who owns Bearden’s Trailer and Farm Equipment on Bankhead Highway.

The candidates collectively said they hoped to make the office more user friendly, paying special attention to those with physical handicaps.

Democratic Primary

Running for the office of coroner is incumbent Sammy Eady and challenger Ladonna Fryar. Eady, 67, has been county coroner since 1988, and Fryar, 47, has spent the last 13 years working as a nurse at Tanner Medical Center in Carrollton.

Democratic voters will also have a choice between several men running for the U.S. Senate seat. Running for the office are Dale Cardwell, Vernon Jones, Rand Knight, Josh Lanier and Jim Martin with the winner to face Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss in the general election.

Special Referendum

Ballot language for the special referendum -- a yes or no vote -- for city of Bowdon voters reads:

“Shall the governing authority of the City of Bowdon, Ga. be authorized to issue licenses to sell distilled spirits for beverage purposes by the drink, such sales to be for consumption only on the premises?”