RISON - Jim Houston of the Rye community and Stephen McClellan of New Edinburg, the two finalists vying for Cleveland County Judge, will give their views on issues in a special forum scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, March 19, in the Family Life Center at Bethel #1 Missionary Baptist Church, 2230 Hwy. 35 North near Rison.Early voting for the runoff begins will be from 8 a.m. to 4:30 weekdays beginning this Tuesday, March 24, at the Hall Morgan Veterans Building, 404 Sycamore Street in Rison. There will be no Saturday voting during the runoff early voting period.The Cleveland County Election Commission said the same polling sites that were open for the March 3 primary election will also be open during the runoff election on Tuesday, March 31. Polls will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. that day.Pat Berry, chairman of the Cleveland County Republican Committee, said the public is invited to attend Thursday’s forum. The Cleveland County Herald again plans to live stream the forum over its Facebook page.Berry said the candidates will be responding to questions submitted by the public, noting that he received several before the question submission deadline ended on Sunday.Neither of the candidates have seen the questions, Berry said. Each round will consist of one of the candidates drawing a question from a container with both having an opportunity to respond. Berry said the candidates will have more time to elaborate on their responses than in the previous forum.Pastor Mike Goodwin of Bethel #1 will serve as moderator. In addition to the runoff for county judge, voters will also be deciding the runoff for the Republican nomination for Arkansas Secretary of State between Kim Hammer and Bryan Norris.The winner of the runoff election for county judge will be unopposed in the November general election since no other candidates filed for the race.Houston and McClellan qualified for the runoff by fi...
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