With one week before the primary, the race for Anderson County probate judge is heating up.

Incumbent Martha Newton is facing opposition from Dan Sharp, a magistrate in Anderson County's summary court.

Newton said she was first elected as Anderson County's probate judge in 1983 and said her knowledge and experience are the reasons she should be voted in for a ninth term.

"I still things I want to get done.  I'm in the prime of my term," said Newton.  "I want to make sure that by the time I leave that all the records are imaged and we're in the process of going back and doing our old records, and so I would like to see all of those completed, and when I leave all we'll be doing is putting in the new files."

Sharp said it's time for a change.  

"We've only had two probate judges since 1929 in Anderson County, so you do tend to maybe get settled in the way that you run your court.  I've always been an advocate of getting new technology in, helping the public deal with court, which is not always fun, and not always easy, but we want to get an interactive website together," said Sharp.  "I'm not interested in the last 30 years.  I'm interested in the next 20 years.  I'm interested in the families of Anderson County getting the services they need to make informed decisions about probate court."

Newton has criticized Sharp for what she calls "mud slinging."

Sharp has brought up the fact that Newton recently switched party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.

"This is not a party job. We don't have Republican marriage license.  We don't have Republican estates or Democrat.  We don't ask you when you come in whether you're Democrat or Republican.  We wait on you anyway," said Newton.  "I feel like my goals and my values are more Republican than the Democrat.  I was going to switch had I not had opposition that was my plan."


About the party switch, Sharp said, "It's all about personal responsibility and convictions and if you don't have that conviction of what your philosophy is, whether it's personal or political, then I may have to take issue with that and I know the voters may have to take issue with that."

Sharp has also criticized Newton for failing to file proper financial paperwork for her charity, which Newton said has now been rectified.

"I was never notified about that.  Had I been notified it would have been corrected," said Newton.  "I didn't know about it until he brought it up and I got right on it and it was corrected."

Sharp said he brought up the violation because of concerns about them.

"I don't want it to hurt the court system, the propriety of the court, and the confidence that people have in the judicial system. Because it didn't have to do with court, that's great, but anything a judge does is viewed by the public as important," said Sharp.