Putnam County voters return to the polls for the party primary runoffs, which begin next week (June 13-17) for early voting at the county administration building and end with in-person voting at the various precincts on Tuesday, June 21.
The last day to apply for an absentee ballot is tomorrow at 5 p.m., June 10. Absentee ballots must be received at the Board of Elections and Registration office by June 21. They may also be brought in and swapped for an in-person ballot on June 21.
Voters must vote in the same primary they chose in the May 24 primaries. Voters who did not vote in the May 24 primaries may still choose either party’s ballot.
Most of the big-name races at the top of the May 24 ballot were decided at that time – both Republican and Democratic nominees for the U.S. Senate and governor seats to be settled in the November general election.
However, both parties have runoffs to settle their nominees to fill the 10th District congressional seat vacated by Jody Hice, who was defeated in the statewide vote in his bid challenging incumbent Brad Raffensberger for the Republican nomination for secretary of state.
Republican ballots
In the lone Republican runoff race on the entire ballot, Butts County’s Mike Collins led the field of five May 24 candidates with 25.6 percent of the 18-county vote, versus former DeKalb County (and then-Democratic) state representative Vernon Jones’ 21.5 percent. Although both ran on similar platforms, Jones was endorsed by Donald Trump.
There remains a faint possibility that the state certification process later this week could shift enough votes from the 159 counties’ returns to force a second Republican runoff, this one for lieutenant governor.
In the four-candidate, unofficial election night tallies, former District 25 state senator Burt Jones of nearby Butts County appeared to have reached the 50 percent-plus-1 plateau to avoid a runoff. With late reporting counties included, Jones increased his 50.2 percent lead to 50.6 percent over second-place Butch Miller’s 31.12 percent.
Democratic ballots
The Democratic ballot will carry four runoff races – three for statewide offices and a more complicated one in the 10th District congressional race.
Lieutenant governor: Kwanza Hall, who briefly held the 5th District seat in Congress, led a May 24 field of nine candidates with 30.15 percent of the statewide vote, followed by former Assistant District Attorney Charlie Bailey’s 17.6 percent.
Secretary of State: Bee Nyugen, who holds the Georgia House of Representatives seat once held by gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and who has Abrams’ endorsement, led a field of five candidates with 40.13 percent of the statewide Democratic vote, followed by the 18.7 percent of Lithonia’s Dee Dawkins-Haigler, who is an eight-year alumna of the State House.
Commissioner of Labor: Janice Laws Robinson, who runs an insurance brokerage, previously ran for insurance commissioner in 2018 and was once an immigrant from Jamaica, led the May 24 Democratic voting with 48.7 percent to runner-up Raphael Baker’s 33.09 percent.
In a bid for her third Democratic nomination for the 10th District seat, Tabitha Johnson-Green easily led a field of eight candidates with 41.96 percent of the 18 counties’ Democratic vote.
However, just who will be her opponent in the runoffs will remain a question mark until the state certifies the May 24 vote counts – and longer, depending on whether third-place finisher Phyllis Hatcher decides to ask for a recount of the race that left her 131 votes short of second-place finisher Jessica Allison Fore of Oconee County.