The presidential primaries in Georgia were a foregone conclusion, with President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump having all but clinched their parties’ nominations, and all of their opponents dropping out or suspending their campaigns in acknowledgement of that inevitability.
Almost 1 million people turned out nonetheless, with a big enthusiasm edge going to Republicans. While Biden won 95% of his party’s vote to Trump’s 84%, twice as many people chose a GOP ballot, 584,888 to 286,720, with 97% of precincts reporting.
Although both candidates had cleared the field by the time Election Day arrived in Georgia, 10 other names remained on the GOP side, and two on the Democratic side. Of those, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was the only one to receive more than 3% of the vote, at 13%. Some minor candidates’ vote totals numbered in the low three digits.
In Athens-Clarke County, 4,175 of 4,463 Democratic voters (93.6%) chose Biden over Rep. Dean Phillips (1.8%) or Marianne Williamson (4.7%). Trump received 2,328 of 3,314 Republican votes (70.3%), with Haley second at 25.5%.
More important than the vote totals, Tuesday was a successful dry run for ACC’s new precinct lines, which affect about half of the county’s approximately 69,000 active registered voters, before busier elections in May and November. The local Board of Elections shifted the lines last year to reflect population changes, and moved six Election Day polling locations. Those changes took effect today.
Despite the U.S. Postal Service being slow to deliver some precinct cards and returning others, local election officials reported that everything went smoothly Tuesday.
But the slow mail deliveries alarmed election officials. They warned voters who want to vote absentee to request a ballot now and fill it out promptly.
“Do it [request a ballot] tonight, before you go to bed,” elections assistant Audra Taylor said at a BOE meeting on Tuesday. “Do not wait until the last week.”
The deadline to request an absentee ballot for the May 21 election is May 10. However, Director of Elections and Voter Registration Charlotte Sosebee reminded the board and voters that staff not only needs time to mail out the ballot, but to get it back in time after the voter has marked and sent it.
Voters who are over 65 or disabled can check a box to automatically receive absentee ballots for all remaining elections this calendar year.
The May election will feature races for nonpartisan local offices like county commission and school board, as well as primaries for partisan local, state and federal offices.
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