Early voting ends Friday, primary election is next Tuesday

Early voting in Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone ends Friday at 5 p.m., and if you miss the boat you’ll have to wait until election day Tuesday to cast your ballot at your usual polling place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

With no Democrats contested by fellow party members in local races, the action is really on the Republican ticket with three contenders vying for the District 3 nomination for county commission currently held by Steve Brown and four would-be school board members seeking the District 4 seat being vacated by retiring BoE member Bob Todd.

Opposing Brown are fellow former Peachtree City Mayors Harold Logsdon and Don Haddix. For Todd’s seat the four candidates are former McIntosh High School teacher Diane Basham, attorney Mindy Fredrikson, attorney John Kimbell and former teacher Jane Owens.

With this being the first county election under district voting, residents are restricted to voting only for the board of education and county commission seats corresponding to the geographic district in which they live. Residents will no longer be able to vote on all five seats on both governing bodies, as district voting with a specially-carved map to create a majority-minority district in the 5th District was the result of a Voting Rights Act lawsuit filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The Republican victor for the District 4 BoE seat will face Democrat challenger Ogechi Oparah in November.

Post 5 county commissioner Allen McCarty has no Republican challenger in May but will face Democrat Pota Coston in November. Likewise, Post 5 BoE member Leonard Presberg, a Democrat, faces a Republican challenger in Dean Dunton.