“At one precinct in Bremen, 900 people had voted by noon,” said Elections Superintendent Vaughn Gable. “And in Tallapoosa, at another precinct, their was a line early in the morning.”
In fact, most counties in the state of Georgia saw between 70 and 80 percent voter turnout on Tuesday, according to the Secretary of State’s website.
Though these results are unofficial until Friday, the deadline to have all absentee ballots in, 100 percent of the precincts have reported their unofficial results.
In the race for U.S. President, Republican challenger Mitt Romeny beat out President Barack Obama with 81.17 percent of the local vote. Obama took only 17.19 percent of the local vote, and Libertarian challenger Gary Johnson took 1.31 percent of the local vote. However, Obama did garner reelection by winning the most electoral votes nation-wide on Tuesday.
Also on the national stage, Tom Graves will remain our representative in the U.S. House for our district.
In local races, Haralson County Commission Chairman Allen Poole and District 1 County Commission challenger Kenneth Smith ran unopposed. Smith will fill current District 1 Commissioner Eric Robinson’s seat, as Robinson ran against Poole for the Chairman’s seat in the primary, and therefore could not run for his current sea. District 3 County Commissioner Vance Posey lost his post by a small margin to challenger John Dobbs. Posey received 45.01 percent of local votes, while Dobbs received 54.95 percent.
In local Board of Education races, District 4 Board member Dr. Martha Smith was running unopposed in the general election as she beat out challenger Susan Forrister in the primary. However, BOE District 1 did see a race between Republican Gail Ray and Democrat Robbie Jordan. Ray beat out Jordan with 78.35 percent of the vote.
For the post of Chief Magistrate, Republican incumbent Brandon Heath maintained his seat with 78.62 percent of the vote, beating out his challenger, Independent Steve Stovall.
In the race for Georgia House of Representatives District 16, Republican challenger Trey Kelley took the seat from incumbent Democrat Rick Crawford. House Representative for District 18 Republican Kevin Cooke will keep his seat, as his challenger Pat Rhudy only garnered 29 percent of the district vote.
State Senator Bill Heath, the incumbent, ran unopposed and will remain in office.
Also Chuck Eaton and Stan Wise were elected locally and state-wide as our new Public Service Commissioners.
In regard to the proposed constitutional amendments, Haralson County voted down the Charter Schools amendment, with 56.11 percent of residents voting against it. However, state-wide the measure received enough support to move on to the legislature for approval.
With approval of Amendment 1, the state will create a commission that can approve charter schools in local communities, even if local school boards have previously denied the application. Supporters of the amendment believed this is necessary to bypass school boards that resist competition; opponents fear a loss of local control and a shift of money from traditional public schools.
The commission will most likely be formed early next year, with appointees from Gov. Nathan Deal and other elected officials.
A second constitutional amendment was also passed. The second amendment question on the ballot, which allows the state to enter into multi-year lease agreements, was approved state-wide and garnered 53.65 of the local vote.
The following candidates were running unopposed in the general election for other posts around the county: Jack Browning for District Attorney, James Hulsey Jr. for Probate Court Judge, Becky Robinson for Clerk of Superior Court, Eddie Mixon for Sheriff, Barbara Ridley for Tax Commissioner, Greg Dewberry for Surveyor, Danny Hutcheson for Coroner.
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