Election Director Said Election On Tuesday Ran Smoothly

Just less than half–48.3 percent–of Oconee County’s Active Registered Voters cast a ballot in the merged Presidential Primary, Party Primary, and Non-Partisan Judicial election on Tuesday.

That compares with a turnout of 53.7 in the Presidential Primary in March of 2016 and with the turnout of 30.81 in the May 2016 Party Primary and Non-Partisan election.

Turnout was highest on Tuesday in Oconee County in the Antioch Precinct (57.4 percent) in the far south of the county that is home to successful Sheriff Candidate James Hale and lowest in the Bogart Precinct (42.1 percent) in the far north of the county.

Election Day voting took place without any significant problems or delays, according to Fran Leathers, director of Oconee County Elections and Registration, despite the first-time use of the new voting equipment and the restrictions required by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to selecting party nominees for the November elections and voting in the non-partisan judicial races, county Democrats and Republicans responded to a number of questions placed on the ballot by party leaders.

Democrats said overwhelmingly that county-level elections should be non-partisan, and a third of the Republicans said Board of Education elections should be non-partisan.

Republicans were evenly split on whether Republican Primaries should be open only to Republicans.

For more details on voting on Tuesday, please go to Oconee County Observations.