Floyd County voter rolls expand
♦ A special election is expected to be called after the Nov. 6 midterms to fill a state House seat.
Tuesday is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6 general election.
Nearly 1,500 more voters were on the county rolls as of Oct. 1 as there were July 1, bringing the total electorate to 52,257, according to the latest secretary of state report. That’s up from 50,770 in July.
The largest bump came from the youngest age group, with 766 new registrations by people between the ages of 18 and
39. Another 373 people between 40 and 64 registered over the past four months along with 348 who are aged 65 and older.
The state constitutional offices are on the ballot, from governor on down, and all seats in the Georgia General Assembly will be filled.
Locally, all voters will have a chance to weigh in on the County Commission Post 1 race where Democrat Stephanie
Wright is challenging incumbent Republican Rhonda Wallace. The state Senate District 52 seat — representing all of Floyd and parts of Chattooga, Gordon and Bartow — also is contested. The choice is between incumbent Republican Chuck Hufstetler and Democrat Evan Ross.
Incumbent Republican Katie Dempsey also is facing a challenge, from Democrat John Burnette II, for the House District 13 seat covering
Rome and central Floyd County. State Reps. Eddie Lumsden, R-Armuchee, and Christian Coomer, R-Cartersville, are unopposed for re-election.
However, a special election is expected to be called later this year to fill Coomer’s state House seat, after he steps down to fill a vacancy on the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Gov. Nathan Deal appointed Coomer to replace Charlie Bethel, whom Deal swore in to a seat on the Georgia Supreme Court last week.
A date has not yet been announced for Coomer’s oath-taking and he has not filed an official withdrawal from his House race.
That means a return to the polls for voters in the district, which covers the southeast quadrant of Floyd County and the northern half of Bartow County.
“It’s too late to run a special election on Nov. 6,” Floyd County Elections Board Chairman Steve Miller said. “I talked to (state Attorney General) Chris Carr and he said it’s past the deadline.”
Once the vacancy is announced, state law gives the secretary of state’s office up to 10 days to set a date that’s between 30 and 60 days out.
The qualifying period will be just a few days and would-be candidates are already launching campaigns.
Three Republicans have entered the race and Dempsey said she knows of at least one other who’s gearing up to join the fray. No Democrats have announced their candidacy.
Declarations of Intent to accept campaign contributions are on file for Coomer’s father Ken Coomer, Mitchell Scoggins and Lanette Nicole Leighly, all Bartow County Republicans.
Scoggins, a retired Probate Court judge, and Ken Coomer, a pastor, attended the Floyd County Republican Women’s lunch last week and spoke to attendees.
“It’s so important we have a faith-based person at the table,” Ken Coomer said, after talking about bringing the church community together to clean up and rebuild Adairsville in the wake of the devastating 2013 tornado.
“All my life I’ve dedicated to serving my community … This is the next step,” he said. “The more you love, the more you do.”
Scoggins told the group three-quarters of the district is in Bartow, “but I guarantee I’ll work just as hard for you as I do Bartow County.”
He spoke about the vacant Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital facility as a potential resource for mental health initiatives, and called the planned RomeCartersville Development Corridor project — linking U.S. 411 to I-75 — a boon to both counties.
Leighly, a mother of seven married to a firefighter, is making improvements to the foster care and adoption system a big part of her platform.
She said in her announcement she wants to be an advocate for children in education, health care and other areas.