As important as federal and state elections are, local elections are just as important if not more so and can impact your local community quicker than any elections.

There are a number of elections coming up in May. All are important in one way or another. We all know how important the sheriff's race is. The sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in the county. The sheriff's actions can surely impact many people in how he performs his job.

The county mayor's position is important in many aspects. While the county mayor has no legislative authority, the position is essentially the CEO of the county and responsible for the daily operations of county government.

The sheriff nor the mayor can raise your property taxes or stick you with a $100 wheel tax nor can any other elected county official. Other offices on the ballot also have certain responsibilities that are also important to county government but no county elected position can impact the quality of life or the cost of living in Loudon County like the county commission positions. The ten men and women in the positions can do more to help or hurt county residents than any other elected positions in the county.

There are 10 Loudon County commissioners elected from 7 legislative districts. Any vote of the commission requires a majority, 6 votes, to pass. 6 yes votes can raise your property taxes as high as they want, or pass a wheel tax as high as they want or increase the local sales tax to the maximum allowed by law. 6 yes votes can grow local government or reduce it.

6 yes votes can pass highly restrictive land use regulations or rezone property that could negatively impact your property. 6 yes votes can spend your tax dollars as recklessly as they want. County commissioners are the legislative authority of the county.

I'll use my race for example. I'm a low tax, small government candidate. My voting record is proof. My opponent, Ms. Sharon Yarbrough is a big government, high tax and spend candidate. Her previous voting record proves it. So there is a clear choice in this race.

You can see why it's so important to know who you are voting for in the district commissioner races.

There are 2 candidates in the 4th district race, 4 candidates in the 5th district race, 3 candidates in the 6th district race and 2 candidates in the 7th district race. Contact the candidates, find out where they stand on the issues, taxes, spending and such.

The commissioners you elect will impact your quality of life and cost of living for good or bad very quickly and very dramatically.

Choose wisely.