With few races on ballot, Georgia runoff election sees low voter turnout

With the conclusion of the runoff election on Tuesday, the 2022 primary season is in the rearview. And like most runoffs, turnout was meager.

Without a big-ticket race on the ballot this time, —no Brian Kemp vs. David Perdue, no great referendum on the legacy of Donald Trump—voter apathy was a given. The election featured a few congressional races, a Democratic secretary of state contest and, in some parts of the state, mayoral races thrown in for good measure.

Important races, yes, but no true blockbusters.

Georgia runoff election results

► Bailey, Nguyen secures Democrat nominations for statewide offices

► Herring tops Griggs in U.S. House race to advance to general election race against Carter

► Paul Smith elected to Savannah-Chatham school board District 5 seat

► Joe Huffman wins Chatham County Recorder’s Court judge runoff race

At least in Chatham, Republicans didn’t have much to vote on in the runoff, just the non-partisan race for Recorder’s Court between winner Joe Huffman and Richard Sanders. Not a huge race, but it was the most well-attended race in Chatham, since it also had the largest pool of voters due to it being a nonpartisan post.

In the runoff, 15,460 votes were cast in the Recorder’s Court judge race, down significantly from the 44,874 votes cast in the May elections.

More: Joe Huffman wins Chatham County Recorder’s Court judge runoff race

Additionally, the runoff for the Democratic 1st Congressional District nomination saw Wade Herring take the win over 2020 nominee Joyce Marie Griggs. In the primary, 45,052 votes were cast in the 15-county 1st District. The runoff for that race saw 20,642 voters return to cast ballots again.

More: U.S. House runoff: Herring tops Griggs to advance to general election race against Carter

Statewide interest was likewise muted. Bee Nguyen’s runoff victory over Dee Dawkins-Haigler for secretary of state came from 252,232 votes, a far cry from the 697,922 votes that were cast in the race during the primary.

In Chatham alone, 12,513 votes were cast in the Democratic secretary of state runoff, and 25,397 were cast in the primary.

More: Georgia runoff election: Bailey, Nguyen secures Democrat nominations for statewide offices

Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: How many people voted in the Georgia runoff?