Both city elections are a little different than most races. The council races are nonpartisan, meaning the candidates do not run by party and "at large" meaning top vote getters win. In Loudon that means the top two vote getters in each race win. In LC it's the top three.

That opens the races for unique circumstances not found in designated seat races. When a voter goes to the polls, they have the option to vote for any three of the six candidates in the Lenoir City race. In Loudon, it's any two of the four candidates.

There's an old political strategy in this style of election. It's called "single shot" voting. Some candidates have learned to ask voters
to "single shot" them. That means the voter would only vote for one candidate instead of three or two. What this does is triple or double the value of that one vote in other words, that one vote really equals three or two for that candidate. Single shot voting is not illegal and is effective in determining elections. I'm certainly not promoting the single shot voting, I'm simply explaining what it is and how it works. Voters will have to make the decision how and who they want to vote.

I've heard Lenoir City candidates tell voters, "You can vote for three but single shot me".

These will be interesting elections.