Friday is the last day to early vote before the July 22 election, and if you need further incentive, low turnout might make your vote more valuable.
At the end of early voting last week, some 1,212 of the county’s 70,373 registered voters had cast a ballot, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. That’s just 1.7 percent.
Among that number was an overwhelming 1,116 Republican ballots cast compared to just 95 ballots on the Democratic side, the data showed. 1,041 had voted in person, another 171 voters checked in with a mail-in absentee ballot and there are another 129 mail-in ballots expected to be cast.
For voters who have their minds made up, early voting continues from 8:30 through 5 p.m. today, Thursday and Friday at the Peachtree City Library, Tyrone Town Hall and the Fayette County elections office at the county government complex in downtown Fayetteville.
Those who miss out on early voting will have to wait until election day on July 22 and visit their regular voting precinct. One exception is that voters for precinct 11 in Peachtree City (the Glenloch Recreation Center) must go to the precinct 20 location at Peachtree City United Methodist Church, officials said. The recreation center has summer recreation programs and will not have room to accommodate voting, officials said.
There are two local races to be decided: the Republican race for the District 16 seat in the Georgia Senate and the Post 4 Republican race for the Fayette County Board of Education.
The Senate race pits Tyrone insurance agent Marty Harbin against Fayetteville attorney David Studdard. With no Democratic competition qualified for the November election, the winner of this race will take office Jan. 1 replacing the retiring Senator Ronnie Chance.
The BoE race pits retired McIntosh High School teacher Diane Basham against teacher and musician Jane Owens. The winner will face Democrat Ogechi Oparah in November.
Other Republican races on the ballot include the U.S. Senate race with longtime U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston facing businessman David Perdue and the state school superintendent contest with Mike Buck facing Richard Woods.
There is only one statewide race on the Democratic ballot, as Alisha Thomas Morgan faces Valarie D. Wilson for state school superintendent.
