Reporter’s Notebook: Summer runoffs expected in Columbus’ local elections

Take a deep breath, if you’re a political junkie, because this lull between Georgia’s Super Tuesday presidential primary and its state primaries and local elections will pass.

And with multiple candidates vying for some local posts, a runoff seems increasingly likely, adding yet another election day to the summer schedule.

Columbus elections will coincide with the state party primaries on May 24, for which the deadline for residents to register to vote is April 26. Early voting will begin May 2.

If some of those contests go to runoffs, that election will be July 26, dead in the center of our long, hot Georgia summer.

Among the offices that have attracted more than a couple of candidates are Muscogee school board seats held by Pat Hugley Green in District 1, Rob Varner in District 5, and Shannon Smallman in District 7. Varner and Smallman are not seeking re-election.

Challenging Hugley Green are JoAnn Thomas-Brown and Al Stewart. Vying for Varner’s seat are Robert Wadkins Jr., Laurie Cochran McRae, Todd Robinson and Pete Taylor. Seeking Smallman’s post are Vanessa Jackson, Shelia D. Williams, Cathy Williams and Norene Marvets.

The Muscogee sheriff is another office that has attracted multiple contenders, but it will not be decided until Nov. 8, when incumbent John Darr, running as an independent, faces Republican Mark LaJoye and the eventual Democratic nominee.

Columbus may choose that nominee in May, or it may not, if no one gets a majority, leaving the two top contenders to face off July 26.

The three Democrats are Pamela L. Brown, Donna Tompkins and Robert Keith Smith.

“We are already budgeting for a runoff,” said elections director Nancy Boren. Each election costs about $100,000, she said.

For the Nov. 8 general election, the registration deadline is Oct. 11, and voters can start casting ballots early on Oct. 17.

Georgians can register to vote online at the Secretary of State’s website, sos.ga.gov, and if unsure of their status, they can check it through the site’s “My Voter Page,” www.mvp.sos.ga.gov.

Columbus residents who are disabled or age 65 or older and would like to vote absentee by mail may download an absentee ballot application from the “My Voter Page” or have one mailed to them by calling the elections office at 706-653-4392.

Boren warns that absentee ballot requests from the March 1 primary do not carry over, so those who applied once must do it again.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 7:55 PM with the headline "Reporter’s Notebook: Summer runoffs expected in Columbus’ local elections."