Early voting for primary runoffs starts Monday

Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·3 min read

Jun. 9—Early voting starts Monday for the Tuesday, June 21, general primary runoffs. Early voting ends on the following Friday.

In Whitfield County, early voting is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the county elections office in the courthouse. In Murray County, early voting is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the recreation department at 651 Hyden Tyler Road in Chatsworth.

In Whitfield County, Republican Party voters will decide whether Joe Barnett or Greg Williams will be the party's nominee in the Nov. 8 general election for the District 4 seat on the Whitfield County Board of Education.

Barnett and Williams finished first and second respectively in a three-way primary on May 24. But neither received more than 50% of the vote, taking the race to a runoff.

Barnett, a retired educator, received 3,537 votes, while Williams, who was in sales at Expert Die for two decades before moving to inventory control three years ago, received 2,611, and Amber McMahan, a nurse practitioner, received 2,205.

Incumbent Republican Joseph Farmer opted not to seek reelection. No Democrat qualified. The term is four years. The post is elected countywide except for the city of Dalton.

There are no local runoffs in Murray County.

At the state level, all of the action will be on the Democratic Party ballot.

—Atlanta attorney Charlie Bailey and former U.S. House of Representatives member Kwanza Hall, also of Atlanta, face off to determine the party's nominee for lieutenant governor. The winner will face Republican state Sen. Burt Jones of Jackson and Libertarian Party nominee Ryan Graham of Atlanta in November. Incumbent Republican Geoff Duncan did not run for reelection.

—Former state representative Dee Dawkins-Haigler of Lithonia and state Rep. Bee Nguyen of Atlanta are battling to determine the party's nominee for secretary of state. The winner will meet incumbent Republican Brad Raffensperger and Libertarian Ted Metz of Cobb County in the general election.

—Atlanta businessman Raphael Baker and Atlanta businesswoman Janice Laws Robinson square off to determine the party's nominee for insurance commissioner. The winner will face incumbent Republican John King in November.

—State Rep. William Boddie Jr. of East Point and businesswoman Nicole Horn of Atlanta are seeking the party's nomination for labor commissioner. The winner will face Republican state Sen. Bruce Thompson of White and Libertarian Party candidate Emily Anderson in November. Incumbent Republican Mark Butler did not seek reelection.

Those who were eligible to vote on May 24 and didn't vote or who voted on the nonpartisan ballot can vote in either party's runoff. But if you voted in a partisan primary you can only vote in the runoff for that party.

Voters must bring a valid photo ID issued by the state or federal government, such as a driver's license or state voter ID card, student ID from a state university, employee ID from a government agency, passport, military ID or tribal ID.