Richard Ford
Richard “Rick” WilsonREGISTER TO VOTEToday is the last day to register to vote in the Aug. 2 county general and state primary elections.EARLY VOTINGVoters may cast ballots from July 13 to July 28 at the following locations in Hamilton County:• Brainerd Recreation Center, 1010 N. Moore Road, and Eastwood Church, 4300 Ooltewah-Ringgold Road; Northgate Mall, entrance at former Shanes Rib Shack/Pizza Hut next to Belk; Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.• Hamilton County Election Commission, 700 River Terminal Road, Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.Source: Hamilton County Election Commission
Democrat Richard “Rick” Wilson and independent Richard Ford are challenging interim County Mayor Jim Coppinger for his second-floor office in the Hamilton County Courthouse.
On Aug. 2, county voters will decide which man will lead the county for the remaining two years of former Mayor Claude Ramsey’s term. Ramsey left in January 2011 to become deputy governor of Tennessee.
County commissioners appointed Coppinger, a former Chattanooga fire chief who, at the time, was District 3 commissioner, to the interim mayor’s post.
Coppinger, 57, has collected more than $200,000 in campaign donations since last fall. Ford hasn’t taken any donations, and Wilson is running a self-financed campaign.