Yr in Review: Early Voting Breaks Records for Mid-Term Election

In November, voters in Northeast Georgia joined concerned citizens across the state and nation in expressing their concern over the state of the federal and state governments.

Over 900,000 Georgia voters went to the polls early to cast their ballots.

Voters were deciding on a new U.S. Senator to replace retiring Senator Saxby Chambliss and also on a U.S. Representative for the 9th District, which includes Stephens, Franklin, and Hart counties.

Early voting for the November Mid-term Elections broke records in both Franklin and Hart Counties.

After the first week, Franklin County Elections Supervisor Gina Chappalear said the turnout for advance voting had been better than expected.

“We’ve had 886 vote through advance voting in the office, and we’ve had 149 of the 221 absentee ballots mailed out come back in,” she said.

By the time advance voting had ended in Franklin County, 1,093 voters had stopped by the Franklin County Board of Elections office to cast an early ballot. Also, 178 of 227 absentee ballots that were mailed out had been returned.

And in Hart County voters there were also deciding on a new Hart County Probate Judge and an eSPLOST referendum, as well as an amendment to Bowersville’s current SPLOST – all in addition to the federal and state races.

Advance voting in Hart County literally overwhelmed the County Registrar’s office.  By the time it was over, poll workers there said almost 3,000 Hart County registered voters had cast early ballots.

Hart County voters returned to the polls on December 2nd to decide on a run-off election for the Hart County Probate judge seat.  In the end, Interim Probate Judge Merry Kirk won out over Todd Townsend to take the seat.