>> PUTNAM COUNTY
In what appears to have been straight party-line voting in Tuesday’s general election, Putnam County went solidly for Republican candidates by a 3-1 margin.
The total turnout – 10,242 ballots cast – among the three voting methods (advance, absentee and in-person) came to 64.58 percent of the county’s 15,859 eligible voters.
Translation: despite all the TV attack ads and dire warnings from both major parties, more than one-third of Putnam’s electorate did not vote.
Also, a large number of advance/ early voters signaled less of a surge in voter engagement than a shift to more convenient times to vote. Some 6,138 voters cast ballots in early voting: 708 absentees by mail, and 3,396 in person on election day.
And those who did fill out a ballot voted overwhelmingly Republican.
The margins in some of the top spots on the ballot include Herschel Walker over Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock, 7,152 to 2,842 in the U.S. Senate race; incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp over Democrat Stacey Abrams, 7,677 to 2,493; Republican Burt Jones (of nearby Butts County) over Democrat Charlie Bailey for lieutenant governor, 7,410 to 2,537; Republican Mike Collins (also of Butts County and the son of a former congressman) over three-time Democratic nominee Tabitha Johnson-Green, 7,597 to 2,523.
One of two local elections in Tuesday’s unofficial returns appeared quite close – within 10 votes – as Democratic incumbent Simone Jones appears to have avoided a runoff for the District 2 seat on the Board of Education against Republican McKenzie Cardwell and independent Eric Little.
Jones got 679 votes, Cardwell 537, and Little 132. Under Georgia’s “50 percent plus one” rule, Cardwell’s and Little’s vote total of 669 came 10 votes shy of at least forcing a runoff. A recount is possible.
The second race was more complicated because one of the candidates for county commission chairman, Charles Trumbo, was a write-in candidate, which requires more procedures from Board of Elections staff.
While acting election supervisor Kimberly Rudolph said it “could be next Monday” before this election could be certified, it was clear from Tuesday’s vote totals that Republican Bill Sharp would be the winner.
Sharp had 8,244 votes in his pocket after Tuesday night, while Trumbo had 758 possible votes from all three forms of voting.
Tuesday’s voting also marked Georgia’s first election under streamlined procedures that allowed all but actual tallying of the votes to take place before 7 p.m. on election day, the old standard. Counting of all ballots, including in-person election day voting, was completed by 8:30 p.m.