Absentee voting underway for July runoffs

♦ Floyd County Elections Supervisor Willie Green is expecting about 5,000 local voters to weigh in on the statewide races.

Absentee voting is underway for the July 24 runoff elections, with in-person early voting set to start July 2.

“We’ve sent out 140 absentee ballots: 100 Republicans and 40 Democrats,” Floyd County Elections Supervisor Willie Green said Monday.

Both parties still have races to decide from the May 22 primaries because no single candidate took more than 50 percent of the vote.

Republicans will select their governor nominee from the two top vote-getters — Casey Cagle and Brian Kemp. Their lieutenant governor slot on the Nov. 6 general election ballot will be filled by either Geoff Duncan or David Shafer; and the secretary of state nomination will go to David Belle Isle or Brad Raffensperger.

Democrats just have one runoff — for their state school superintendent nominee. The race is between Sid Chapman and Otha Thornton Jr.

Those who voted in the Democratic primary are ineligible to vote in the Republican runoff, and vice versa. A voter who picked the nonpartisan ballot in May can opt to participate in either party’s runoff.

“And if you didn’t vote at all in the primary, you can vote in the runoff,” Elections Clerk Donna Maldonaldo said. “As long as you were registered by the deadline, April 24.”

Green said he’ll be opening a universal precinct for walk-in voters July 2 at the Floyd County Administration Building, 12 E. Fourth Ave. He has not yet decided if he’ll set up early-voting precincts at the other regular spots, Garden Lakes Baptist Church and the Rome Civic Center.

“We barely had 20 percent (turnout) for the primary. We’ll probably just get about 10 percent for the runoff,”

Green said.

All 25 precincts will be open on the day of the runoff election.

The county had 50,779 registered voters for the primary and just 10,211

cast ballots in the May election, which included final decisions on nonpartisan judge races.

The hottest race locally was the contest between Kay Ann Wetherington and Emily Matson to fill the seat being vacated by Floyd County Superior Court Chief Judge Tami Colston. Wetherington won the seat, but Matson

was a popular write-in candidate in several other races, including for the Georgia Supreme Court.

Batman and Mickey Mouse also made the list of write-ins on the judicial ballot, along with sports figures such as Bobby Cox and Javy Lopez, and Superior Court Judge Jack Niedrach was another

nominee for a Supreme Court seat.

Local attorneys ranging from Chris Twyman and Martha Jacobs to Sam Lucas and Steven Bennett also got shout-outs from local voters, as well as private citizens such as 10-year-old Jase Stockton and Earl Eskridge, commander of the Armuchee Amvets post.