Local voters keep incumbents in Primary
Commissioners keep seats, Brazier wins Probate Court race
Polk County voters elected to keep incumbents in place and settled the question of who will take over the Polk County Probate Court in 2021, but will have to go back to the polls in August to decide two area races for the GOP primary.
Polls closed on June 9 and the Board of Elections processed thousands of absentee ballots and in-person votes were processed well into the early morning hours of June 10, and were finally released after some technical issues were resolved with the Secretary of State’s office at midweek.
Officials stated that no changes were made in the initial election results posted in the early morning hours Wednesday that were later rescinded, but that a issue at the state level with reporting software caused the Board of Elections to want to pull back from calling their tallies complete until it was resolved. Of note, the vote has yet to be certified yet and won’t be official until
that is completed.
Locally, voters decided to keep Scotty Tillery as the District 1 Commissioner and Chuck Thaxton as the District 2 commissioner in the 2020 Primary, alongside voting in a new Probate Court Judge to start in 2021 with the win for Coroner Tony Brazier.
By just 312 votes, Brazier took the race 3,597 to 3,285 when all the votes were tallied by around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning.
The current coroner and Judge-elect thanked those who supported his campaign in a message he sent to the Standard Journal on Friday.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the great people of Polk County not only for their votes and support but also for their confidence and trust placed in me to serve them faithfully in the Polk County Probate Court. My promise to them is that I will serve them faithfully and with the greatest respect to them and our great county,” his statement read. “It was a long and challenging campaign, especially in the presence of a Viral Pandemic. This made campaigning quite difficult for not just our’s but for every candidates campaigns. But, we adapted & we overcame the problem and managed to reach out to the voters, just in unique and safer ways.”
The statement concluded with “Our primary focus shifted from obtaining our votes, to making sure that the voters of our great
county were protected and safe from the Corona Virus. Our campaign also sought to assist the people by insisting that those with health concerns utilize Absentee Ballots to insure their safety and the safest ever Early Voting Process that I’ve ever seen. Even the day of our Primary Elections, our Voter Elections Personnel kept infection protection precautions in place, so as to protect each of us as we cast our ballots. My hat is off to those folks — they’re awesome. Finally, let me thank all of my staffers who worked so hard on my campaign, I want to thank every citizen of our wonderful home of Polk County, our news media family, the Polk Standard Journal, WZOT-WPLK and WGAA for their excellence in reporting on the primary and in my race, I’d like to thank my competitor, Mr. Bobby Brooks, whom I’ve known a very long time and who ran a good clean race and thank you to my family, friends & co-workers who put up with me during this historic time. Polk County, I love each and every one of you and I’m ready to continue to serve you as I have done since the late 1970’s. May God Bless each of you and this county that we all call home.”
Tillery won the District 1 race over James Vines 5,400 votes to 1,507 and Thaxton defeated Glenn Robinson 3,997 votes to 2,758.
Thaxton said he was thankful for the support of voters in the primary.
“I would like to thank the voters of Polk county for trusting in me to continue
to represent them. I would also like to thank my wife and family for their understanding and support during this election,” Thaxton said. “I look forward to working to make Polk county a even safer more prosperous place to live. As a person who was born and raised in Polk County I only want the best for its citizens.”
Tillery added his own appreciation for a Primary night win. Both men face no challengers in the general election in November.
He provided the following statement:
“I am both humbled and honored that Polk County had placed their confidence and support in me when reelecting me as their County Commissioner. I love Polk County and I will continue to work hard in making our sweet county the best it can be. My position is not about me, it is all about the fine people of Polk County. I love and appreciate each and every one and I will work hard to protect and be their voice in every decision I make.”
“I would like to thank my wife, children, family and friends for their unending love and support, but mostly I thank God. It is with him that I will continue to serve the people,” the statement concluded.
In the State House District 16 race, Polk County decided for State Rep. Trey Kelley to represent the Republican Party in the November race for the seat, which will be contested by Democratic challenger Lyndsay Arrendale. Kelley defeated Jennifer Hulsey locally 4,410
to 2,633 votes, and districtwide 5,163 to 3,072.
The District 31 State Senate race will require a runoff as none of the four candidates got more than 50% of the ballots in their favor. Boyd Austin — who led in the GOP primary locally — garnered 2,663 votes ahead of Jason Anavitarte’s 2,074. Robert “Bobby” Mehan took 1,100 local votes, and Bobby Wilson had 667. Districtwide, Austin took 11,861 votes across Paulding, Haralson and Polk Counties. He held a lead over Anavitarte’s 10,604 votes, Mehan’s 4,678 and Wilson’s 2,292 ballots cast.
That means in August when the District 14 race goes to a run-off, GOP voters will be asked to choose between the two candidates in the District 31 race as well.
The District 14 race ended with Marjorie Greene in the lead with 40,759 votes so far, with Dr. John Cowan taking a second place with 18,391 so far.
In Presidential primary races, President Donald Trump took the GOP without opposition in Georgia, while former Vice President Joe Biden won the state by a wide majority, though some votes did go to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
The Democratic race for the U.S. Senate nomination to challenge Senator David Perdue had Jon Ossoff in the lead, though calls for a full count of ballots have been called for in the race by Sarah Riggs Amico, a former Lieutenant Governor candidate.