Democrats Dominated Local Balloting Before Primary Cancelled

Just less than 5 percent of Oconee County’s registered voters had cast a ballot before voting for the March 24 Presidential Primary was suspended by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger at the end of early voting today.

The Presidential Primary now will coincide with the already scheduled May 19 party primaries and nonpartisan judicial elections.

Oconee County voters had cast 929 Democratic Ballots in the first two weeks of early voting in the Presidential Primary, or more than one and a half times the 571 cast in all of early voting in 2016.

County voters cast 557 Republican ballots in the two weeks ending today, or a little more than a quarter of the 2,022 cast in early voting in 2016.

According to Raffensperger’s announcement, voters “who have already cast their vote in person or by mail for the March 24 primary will be able to vote again in the May 19 primary for the elections already scheduled for that date.”

“If Georgians who have already cast their vote for the March 24 primary do not vote again in the May 19 primary,” the announcement continues, “their votes for the presidential preference primary will still count."

The announcement does not make clear if a person who has cast a ballot in early voting in the Presidential Primary can change his or her vote in that race on May 19.

Fran Leathers, director of Oconee County Elections and Registration, had not been informed of the cancellation of the election when she left her office after early voting ended at 4 p.m. today, and she said she does not have details about what follows.

Courtney Bernardi, president of the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce, confirmed this morning that the Candidate Forum scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at North Oconee High School for the May 19 elections has been cancelled.

For more on the story, pleases go to Oconee County Observations.