By Conrad Easterday, CTN Editor

Among them, Stephens, Grady and Caddo counties only have two races on the Aug. 27 run-off election ballots, but schools in the three counties have a number bond issues that voters will be asked to decide.
Run-off elections come into play when no candidate from a party primary race wins 50 percent of the vote. When that happens, the two highest vote-getters compete in a run-off election for their party’s nomination.
In Stephens County, Republicans Stacy Jo Adams, 49, of Duncan will be facing off against Andrew Aldridge, 31, of Duncan for the 50th District seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
Adams sells insurance at her own agency, Adams Insurance Agency, established in 2021. She has an education degree from Cameron University and teaches Sunday school classes at Grand Assembly Church in Corum.
Aldridge is the state director of Peer Resolution for Oklahoma Students, a program through the Oklahoma Supreme Court that teaches youth how to handle conflict positively.
The two Duncan residents are featured in more detail in the July 17 issue of the Chisholm Trail Community News.
Candidates for the Grady County Board of Commissioners, Kirk L. Painter and Ruth Bingham, have also been featured in the News. Both Republicans are currently employed by the county. Painter is the incumbent and chairman of the Commission while Bingham is a deputy in the County Treasurer’s office. She edged Painter by less than a point in the June 18 primary with 38.91 percent of the vote.
With such a small margin between candidates, the winner in the run-off election Aug. 27 will be determined by whoever picks up the most votes from supporters of Garland G. Terry who was eliminated from the field of candidates in June.
Public school districts are asking voters to approve multimillion-dollar bond issues. Grady County has the most with three on the ballot. Stephens County has two, and Caddo County has one.
All three Grady County bond issues involve districts that exist largely in other counties but whose boundaries do cross Grady’s borders. Only a few voters will cast ballots in those bond elections, said Tonya Hodges, an assistant at the Grady County Election Board under secretary Katrina Hughes.
More than a dozen educational entities in neighboring counties cross into Grady County, Hodges said. In turn, a handful of Grady County schools have small numbers of voters on the other side of the county line. The process can sometimes be a bit confusing, Hodges admitted.
Grady County bond issues:
Blanchard Public Schools is asking voters to approve $66 million for “the purpose of constructing, equipping, repairing and remodeling school buildings, acquiring school furniture, fixtures and equipment, and acquiring and improving school sites.”
Lindsay Public Schools is asking for $11.8 million for the same stated purpose as Blanchard — “constructing, equipping, repairing and remodeling school buildings…”
Lindsay Public Schools in a separate bond issue is requesting $600,000 for the purchase of buses, described as “the purpose of purchasing transportation equipment…”
Marlow Public Schools is asking voters to approve $730,000 in bonds for the purchase of new buses.
Stephens County bond issues:
Marlow Public Schools is asking voters to approve $730,000 in bonds for the purchase of new buses. Most of the voting for this ballot question will take place in Stephens County. A much smaller number of ballots will be cast in Grady County.
Caddo County bond issues:
Hinton Public Schools is seeking $23.7 million in bonds for “constructing, equipping, repairing and remodeling school buildings.”