Contested local races drive early voting numbers

Contested races for Columbus Council and the Muscogee school board appear to be driving the early voting turnout for next Tuesday’s party primaries and local nonpartisan elections.

Most precincts topping the rankings for early votes cast so far are in districts where candidates either are vying for vacant seats or challenging incumbents, and most are either in midtown or on the south side of town.

Leading the pack is the St. John-Belvedere precinct that votes at the St. John AME Church, 3980 Steam Mill Road. It had 306 votes, nearly 8 percent of the more than 4,000 votes cast as of 10 a.m. Wednesday.

St. John is in school board District 1, where incumbent Pat Hugley Green faces challengers JoAnn Thomas-Brown and Al Stewart, and in council’s District 4, where longtime Councilor Evelyn Turner Pugh faces Marquese “Skinny” Averett.

Next is St. Paul-Clubview, where voters cast ballots at St. Paul Methodist Church, 2101 Wildwood Ave. It had 291 votes. It’s in school board District 5, the seat Rob Varner’s vacating. Four candidates are vying to replace him: Laurie Cochran McRae, Todd Robinson, Pete Taylor and Robert Wadkins Jr.

Coming in third is the Rothschild precinct that votes at Rothschild Middle School, 1136 Hunt Ave., with 278 votes. Like St. John-Belvedere, its ballots have the races for school board District 1 and council District 4.

Fourth is the Carver-Mack precinct that votes at the Columbus Public Library, 3000 Macon Road. It had 276 votes, and depending on the voter’s address, has on its ballots school board District 1 or District 3, the latter in which incumbent A.J. Senior faces challenger Vanessa Jackson.

In fifth place is Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church, 4400 Old Cusseta Road, where depending on the voter’s address, the ballots also have school board District 1 or District 3, and council District 4.

Sixth is the precinct at Fort Middle School, 2900 Woodruff Farm Road, another consolidated precinct where depending on the voter’s address, ballots bear the races for school board District 1 or District 5, and council District 4.

Coming in seventh is the Psalmond Road Recreation Center with 205 votes, an outlier in that it has no hotly contested district race.

Eighth with 182 votes is Wynnton Methodist Church, 2412 Wynnton Road, where ballots have either the school board District 1 or District 7 race.

Ninth is Faith Tabernacle, 1603 Floyd Road, which is in council District 4. It had 180 votes.

Coming in 10th is St. Andrews-Midland, which votes at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 4980 Hancock Road, where residents cast 168 ballots, some of which have the race for school board District 5.

That’s the top 10. Here’s a rundown of the rest:

Gentian-Reese Road, 167; St. Mark-Heiferhorn, 160; Cusseta Road, 152; Wynnbrook Baptist, 142; National Infantry Museum, 141; Moon-Morningside, 133; Edgewood Baptist, 123; Cornerstone, 97; Epworth, 82; St. Peter, 75; Columbus Tech, 69; Salvation Army, 67; Eddy-Key, 62; Britt David, 46; and First African, 44.

As expected, most voters so far chose a Democratic ballot, as races for Municipal Court judge, Superior Court clerk, Municipal Court clerk and marshal will be decided in Tuesday’s Democratic Primary, with no Republican opposition in November.

Nearly 3,000 residents chose to vote Democratic, while just over a 1,000 picked Republican ballots. The number choosing nonpartisan ballots was negligible, with a couple of precincts having none at all.

One aspect of early voting the county elections board later may re-evaluate is Sunday voting. Though some partisans – Democrats, mostly – pushed for Sunday voting in 2014, when the board rejected it, offering it this year did not attract many voters.

With seven hours of poll time offered on each of two Sundays, only 31 showed up on the first one and 35 on the second.

Early voting continues today and Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the City Services Center, 3111 Citizens Way. All voting precincts will open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

No early voting is offered the final weekend before Election Day, nor the Monday preceding it.

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 6:16 PM with the headline "Contested local races drive early voting numbers."