So who can vote in which races and where? Your guide to runoff elections in the Columbus area
Early voting has started for several runoff elections in the Columbus area to decide races that weren’t completed during last month’s primary and nonpartisan elections.
Here’s a your guide to those races, the candidates and who can vote, when and where before the runoff election day, June 18:
Who are the candidates on the ballot for these runoffs?
As they did during the May 21 election, Muscogee County voters may vote in two nonpartisan races to decide this one citywide seat on the 10-member Columbus Council.
The May 21 election whittled the four-candidate field to two: Prestige Property Brokers owner Travis Chambers and Ankerpak President John Anker.
They are competing to succeed John House, who resigned in April 2023 to spend more time with his ailing wife. House represented District 10, one of the council’s two citywide seats, for 4½ years.
The two runoff races between Anker and Chambers are the special election to determine who immediately will fill the seat for the remainder of this year and the regular election to determine who will fill the seat for the full four-year term, starting in January.
Tyson Begly has been servicing as the citywide representative in the District 10 seat since the council appointed him after House resigned. The council has an unwritten rule that anyone appointed by the council shouldn’t run for election so they don’t have an unfair advantage as an incumbent when voters decide who will represent them.
Harris County has a runoff for the five-person Board of Commissioners District 4 seat between incumbent Bobby Irions and Richie Grantham, the top two finishers out of three candidates.
Two congressional runoffs to represent the Columbus area in the U.S. House also are on the June 18 ballot. Both are undecided races from the May 21 Republican primary.
In District 2, Wayne Johnson, a Bibb County businessman, and Chuck Hand, a Taylor County construction superintendent, are in a runoff after finishing as the top two out of four candidates. The winner will be the GOP nominee to run in the Nov. 5 general election against Democratic incumbent Sanford Bishop of Albany, a former attorney.
In District 3, Mike Dugan, a Carroll County retired military veteran and a former state senator, and Brian Jack, a Fayette County political adviser for Donald Trump, are in a runoff after finishing as the top two out of six candidates. The winner will be the GOP nominee to run in the Nov. 5 general election against Democratic nominee Maura Keller, a Fayette County nuclear medicine technologist. Republican incumbent Drew Ferguson decided to not seek re-election.
Who can vote in these runoffs?
In all the following scenarios, you must be a registered voter residing in the jurisdiction for that runoff election.
If you didn’t vote in the primary, or if you chose a nonpartisan ballot for the primary, or if you chose a Republican ballot for the primary, you may choose a Republican/nonpartisan ballot to vote in the congressional, city council and county commission runoffs, or you may choose a nonpartisan ballot to vote in only the Columbus Council or Harris County Commission runoff.
But if you chose a Democratic ballot in the primary, you may vote in only the council or commission runoff because those are nonpartisan races and you may not vote in either of the Republican congressional runoffs.
Where and when to vote early before the June 18 runoff election day
Muscogee County is conducting early voting at the City Services Center, 3111 Citizens Way, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily — including weekends — until June 14.
Harris County will conduct early voting at the elections office, 757 Carver Circle, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 10-14.
The last day to request an absentee ballot for these runoff elections is June 7. Requests may be made at your local elections office or online at the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.
This story was originally published June 5, 2024 at 12:30 PM.
