← Back to Carter County, Tennessee: Election on 2026-08-06
Contest for Register Of Deeds
general - Partisan - Register of Deeds
About this office
The register of deeds maintains the county's permanent public record of real-property instruments — deeds, mortgages, liens, and plats — and collects the state transfer and mortgage taxes on them. The record the office keeps is the legal backbone of property ownership.
Term length: 4 years.
This role calls for
- Records management of deeds, mortgages, liens, plats, and other instruments affecting title to land.
- Working knowledge of Tennessee recording statutes, the recording-tax schedule, and the increasingly-electronic submission workflow used by title companies.
- Accuracy and indexing discipline — an error in the register's records can cloud title for years.
- Public-access service: the records are open, and the office serves both professional users and individual property owners.
- Budget and technology literacy for maintaining a searchable, modern record system.
Derived from the office's statutory duties and operational reality. Candidate summaries below map each candidate's documented experience to these requirements.
Campaigns
Jarrod Ellis's biography shows eight years as Carter County Register of Deeds, including modernizing office technology and preserving historical records since 1796 without taxpayer cost. He cites increased mortgage and conveyance tax revenues and collaboration on property-fraud protections. Bio does not indicate prior experience in managing complex title disputes or direct experience with electronic submission workflows used by out-of-county title companies.
William Michael Fraley's biography shows extensive law enforcement leadership as Carter County sheriff since 2022, yet it lacks specific evidence of records management for deeds or mortgages, familiarity with Tennessee recording statutes, or experience with electronic title submission workflows required for the Register of Deeds. Bio does not indicate experience in land record indexing or budget management for modernized public-access systems.
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