By Enoch Autry and Megan Broome
The rematch is set for the governorship of Georgia as Brian Kemp again will face Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams in November while Republican Peach State football legend Herschel Walker will meet incumbent Rev. Raphael Warnock for U.S. Senate.
Rabun County voters’ decisions in the Primary Election Tuesday mirrored the statewide results in the gubernatorial and senate races and throughout the remainder of the ballot.
A total or 37.45 percent of Rabun County’s registered voters casted ballots in the primary. From the 12,174 voters in Rabun County, 4,559 voted at the polls during advanced voting, absentee ballot by mail, and on election day.
During the three weeks of early voting, 2,301 people advance voted in person. This was 281 Democrat ballots, 2,019 Republican ballots and one non-partisan ballot.
The Rabun County Board of Elections Office mailed out 341 absentee ballots; 74 Democratic; 265 Republican and two non-partisan. A total of 316 people voted via absentee by mail; 68 Democratic; 248 Republican; and one non-partisan.
“I thought the voting went great. It went smoothly,” said Sandra Wood, poll worker.
Poll Manager Glenda Enloe concurred.
“I think very smoothly. It was steady all day,” said Enloe about how election day went.
“Pretty much non-stop,” said Kathy Allen, a poll worker about how election day went.
“We had a very good mail ballot team,” said Lynne Ramey, Rabun County elections assistant.
Ramey said they had good teamwork and worked diligently to check and double check the facts and numbers.
None of those running for office locally faced on-ballot opposition in the primary. However, the state and federal races saw candidates from the same party battle for the right to be on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Gov. Kemp received an early concession from his Republican gubernatorial opponent David Perdue, who was backed by Donald Trump. Kemp won in Rabun County and statewide as he now will face Abrams in November. Republican Kemp and Democrat Abrams opposed each other four years ago in the governor’s race as Kemp won by approximately 50,000 votes.
In Rabun County, Kemp received 2,842, or 70.31 percent of the vote. Perdue received 1,041 votes, or 25.75 percent.
The U.S. Senate race had multiple Republicans on the ballot to become the nominee in the November election.
In Rabun County, Herschel Junior Walker received 2,666 votes, or 67.10 percent. Gary Black, the current commissioner of agriculture, received the second-most with 594, or 14.95 percent.
Walker will face incumbent Democratic Raphael Warnock in the Nov. 8 election. In Rabun County, Warnock received 474 votes, or 96.34 percent, against Tamara Johnson-Shealey’s 492 18 votes, or 474 percent on the Democratic ballot.
In Rabun County, incumbent Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger received 1,821 votes, or 46.48 percent. Jody Hice received 1,480 votes, or 37.77 percent. On the Democratic ballot, Bee Nguyen received 276 votes, or 59.74 percent.