ELECTION DAY
Voter interest higher than ever
Lines were moving swiftly and smoothly Tuesday morning at the Calhoun Recreation Department polling location as Gordon County voters turned out to cast their ballots.
Shea Hicks, chairperson of the Gordon County Board of Elections and Voter Registration Office, said things were going well at about the halfway mark on Election Day, though final results for the national races might not be known for days.
“As predicted, we have set records with early voting and Election Day voting,” said Hicks. “We have had a great Election Day! I’m very proud of my office staff, our poll workers that worked on Election Day, our delivery team and set up team and my Elections and Voter Registration board. We definitely couldn’t have a smooth Election Day without all of us doing our part. It’s great to have a great team!”
The election follows a record number of voters in Gordon turning out to cast their ballots early. By the close of business Friday, 11,901
voters had turned out to make their choices. The previous record for early voting in Gordon County was just over 9,000 ballots.
The county also saw a record number of registrations this election cycle, with 37,207 residents signed
up to vote. With more than a quarter of those having already voted early, officials were eager Tuesday to see how many voters were waiting until election day to cast their ballots.
More than 4,800 absentee ballots had been requested in Gordon County, which was also an all time high locally. Per state law, those had to be turned in either by mail or via the dropbox at the elections office on South Piedmont Street by 7 p.m. Tuesday.
None of the local races were contested, but two new officials were to be elected. R. Bruce Potts will replace Norris Sexton on the Gordon County Board of Commissions after defeating the incumbent in the Republican primary. Additionally, Christie Owens Fox will join the Gordon County Schools Board of Education after winning the Republican primary in the spring. She’ll fill the seat of Chris Johnson, who chose not to run for re-election.
Interest in this election was mostly driven by the presidential race, with Republican incumbent Donald Trump facing challenges from Democrat and for
mer Vice President Joe Biden and Libertarian Jo Jorgensen.
Additionally, both of Georgia U. S. Senate seats were on the ballot, with Sen. David Perdue facing a challenge from Democrat John Ossoff and Libertarian Shane Hazel. The other race, to fill the unexpired term of Sen. Johnny Isakson, was crowded with 20 candidates, though it was largely considered a threeway race between Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler (who was appointed to the position by Gov. Brian
Kemp), Republican Doug Collins and Democrat the Rev. Raphael Warnock. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, that race will head to a runoff.
Another race of interest was the 14th District seat in U. S. Congress, which Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene was set to win after Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal dropped out due to family reasons.
Also, on the state level, Republican incumbent Sen. Chuck Hufstetler was being challenged by Democrat Charles DeYoung in
the 52nd District; and Republican incumbent State Rep. Rick Jasperse was up against Democrat Kayla Hollifield in the 11th District. Two Public Service Commission seats were up for grabs too, with Republican incumbent Jason Shaw, Democrat Robert G. Bryant and Libertarian Elizabeth Melton competing for one, while Republican incumbent Lauren Bubba McDonald Jr., Democrat Daniel Blackman and Libertarian Nathan Wilson were the options in the other race.