The Rabun County Board of Elections continues seeing a large turnout at the polls as voters have been casting their ballots during early voting since it opened Oct. 17.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8, and the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Rabun County Board of Elections Office, 184 South Main Street, Suite 102, Clayton.
As of Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 5 p.m., 4,765 people had voted early in-person and 569 absentee ballots had been returned, this includes military and traditional ballots. The elections office had mailed out 758 ballots.
“We are having a high turnout,” said Tammy Whitmire, Rabun County elections supervisor. She said that with the exception of a couple of days, her office has seen about 400-plus people vote each day.
Out of 12,534 active voters in Rabun County, 42.5 percent had already turned out to vote as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. With two Saturdays set aside for early voting opportunities as well, Whitmire said 155 people voted in-person Oct. 22 and 164 people voted in-person Oct. 29.
Early voting continues through Friday, Nov. 4, at 5 p.m. The last day to turn in applications requesting absentee ballots was Oct. 28.
Contact the Rabun County Board of Elections and Registration Office at 706-782-1878 with questions and voter information.
Shuttle to the polls
Whitmire said Rabun Transit will provide shuttles for those in need on Election Day, Nov. 8. She said that Rabun Transit will offer shuttles from the parking lot of Clayton Baptist Church between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Sample ballots are available at the Rabun County Board of Elections Office and the Georgia My Voter Page, mvp.sos.ga.gov. Whitmire said she encourages voters to look at the ballot ahead of time before showing up on election day “so they can be prepared.”
Photo ID is required in order to vote.
Candidates on the ballot
There’s no question that one reason large numbers of people are showing out already is because of some of the highly contentious races on the federal and state levels.
In the federal race for United States Senate, Republican candidate Herschel Junior Walker is running against Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock.
State races include candidates Democrat Stacey Abrams and Libertarian Shane Hazel running against incumbent Brian Kemp for Governor; candidates Democrat Bee Nguyen and Libertarian Ted Metz running against Republican incumbent Brad Raffensperger for Secretary of State; and candidates Republican Tyler Harper, Democrat Nakita Hemingway and David Raudabaugh running for Commissioner of Agriculture.
As for state legislature seats to represent Rabun County, Democrat Paulette Williams is running against Republican incumbent Bo Hatchett for State Senate-District 50; and Victor E. Anderson is running unopposed for State House of Representatives-District 10.
On the ballot for local races are Republican candidate for Magistrate Judge James V. Blalock; Republican incumbent for County Commission Post 4 Kent Woerner; Republican incumbent for County Commission Post 5 Scott Crane; Republican incumbent Curtis Haban for Board of Education Post 1; and Republican incumbent for Board of Education Post 3 Mark Beck.
The City of Sky Valley will hold a special election to fill the unexpired term of Ed Morley. Voters can decide between Tim Darrah and Susie Piontkowski.
Write-in candidates
Certified Write-In Candidates for the Nov. 8 Election include Kyle Shook for Magistrate Judge; Milton J. Lofton and David C. Byrne for Governor; and Brenda Lynn Nelson-Porter for Secretary of State.
Voting for a Certified Write-In Candidate is similar to a multiple choice test. Click on and completely fill in the oval to the left of the Write-In selection. Then, type the first and last name of the Write-In Candidate in the space provided, such as a person would do when responding to a short-answer question.
Proposed Constitutional Amendments
On the ballot, voters will see several questions either for or against proposed constitutional amendments. There are two Proposed Constitutional Amendments and voters are instructed to check “Yes” or “No” by marking the empty oval to the left of the selection they want to make.
1. Provides for suspension of compensation of certain state officers and members of the General Assembly.
Senate Resolution No. 134
Resolution Act No. 304
“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to suspend the compensation of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State School Superintendent, Commissioner of Insurance, Commissioner of Agriculture, Commissioner of Labor or any member of the General Assembly while such individual is suspended from office following indictment for a felony?”
2. Provides for temporary local tax relief after disasters.
House Resolution No. 594
Resolution Act No. 803
“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide that the governing authority of each county, municipality, and consolidated government and the board of education of each independent and county school system in this state shall be authorized to grant temporary tax relief to properties within its jurisdiction which are severely damaged or destroyed as a result of a disaster and located within a nationally declared disaster area?”
Statewide Referendum Questions
Voters will also be able to vote Yes or No regarding Statewide Referendum Questions at the ballot box.
A. Provides for ad valorem tax exemption for certain timber production, reforestation, and harvesting equipment.
House Bill No. 997
Act No. 859
“Shall the Act be approved which grants a state-wide exemption from all ad valorem taxes for certain equipment used by timber producers in the production or harvest of timber?”
B. Expands ad valorem tax exemption for family-owned farms and adds qualified products to the exemption.
House Bill No. 498
Act No. 260
“Shall the Act be approved which expands a state-wide exemption from ad valorem taxes for agricultural equipment and certain farm products held by certain entities to include entities comprising two or more family owned farm entities, and which adds dairy products and unfertilized eggs of poultry as qualified farm products with respect to such exemption?”