Elections tracker: Final votes counted in Muscogee County Wednesday. Here are the winners
Almost 17 hours after polls closed in Muscogee County Tuesday, the final ballots were at last counted.
The elections office ceased counting ballots shortly after 1 a.m., and said workers will return at 10 a.m. Wednesday to finish a handful of precincts as well as the absentee ballots.
Muscogee released an update on the numbers at 11:54 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 4:06 p.m. Wednesday. Election officials had to re-make a number of paper ballots due to some voters mistakenly ripping off the top part, poll workers said.
Nancy Boren, the county elections director, said the Georgia Secretary of State’s office around 1 a.m. gave counties the option of suspending the vote count, leaving the decision to members of Muscogee’s board of elections, who agreed with the overnight delay.
Polls closed around Columbus at 9 p.m. after technical issues with machines and other voting devices forced a Superior Court Judge to sign the extension order.
Those delays were seen in the reporting process as well. The Secretary of State’s website did not begin reporting results until after 10:10 p.m. The Ledger-Enquirer was not able to obtain results from the Muscogee County Elections Office until midnight.
Here’s what has been counted so far in the Muscogee County Sheriff, Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney, Muscogee County School Board Districts 3 and 7, and Columbus Council District 4 races, as well as the Democratic Senate primary in which former Columbus mayor Teresa Tomlinson is a candidate.
The numbers reported below are from the Muscogee County Elections office. All other election results from across Georgia can be found on the Secretary of State website.
District Attorney, Chattahoochee Circuit
In Marion County, Julia Slater leads Mark Jones 422 votes to 287.
In Chattahoochee County, Mark Jones leads Julia Slater 234 votes to 225.
In Taylor County, Julia Slater leads Mark Jones 508 votes to 209.
In Harris County, Julia Slater leads Mark Jones 1,485 to 1,149.
In Muscogee County, Mark Jones leads Julia Slater 13,574 votes to 11,249.
In Talbot County Julia Slater leads Mark Jones 781 votes to 613.
As of 4:30 p.m., Julia Slater received 14,670 (48%) votes. Mark Jones has received 16,066 (52%).
Read more about the District Attorney race results here.
Muscogee County Sheriff Democratic Primary
With 100% of precincts reporting as of 4:06 p.m., Greg Countryman leads with 13,797 votes followed by incumbent Donna Tompkins with 7,760 and Pam Brown with 3,945.
Columbus Council District 4
With 100% of precincts reporting as of 4:06 p.m., Toyia Tucker leads Elaine Gillispie 3,363 votes to 1,640.
Columbus Council District 4, Special Election (to fill remainder of current term)
With 100% of precincts reporting as of 4:06 p.m., Toyia Tucker leads with 2,280 followed by incumbent Valerie Thompson with 1,877 and Elaine Gillispie with 940.
Muscogee County School Board District 3
With 100% of precincts reporting as of 4:06 p.m., Vanessa Jackson leads Sherrie Aaron 2,960 votes to 1,334.
Read more about the results of this race here.
Muscogee County School Board District 7
With 100% of precincts reporting as of 4:06 p.m., Cathy Williams leads Walter Taylor 1,496 votes to 877.
Read more about the results of this race here.
Democratic Senate Primary
With 100% of precincts reporting in Muscogee County as of 4:06 p.m., Teresa Pike Tomlinson leads with 16,202 votes. The rest of the vote breakdown is as follows:
- Jon Ossoff, 5,382
- Maya Dillard Smith, 1,045
- Sarah Riggs Amico, 918
- Markeith DeJesus, 760
- James Knox, 572
- Tricia Carpenter McCracken, 381
Statewide as of 2:38 p.m. Wednesday, nearly 725,000 ballots have been cast in the Senate primary. Ossoff leads with 355,053 votes (49.00%) followed by Tomlinson with 104,697 votes (14.45%) and Amico with 96,472 (13.31%), according to the Georgia Secretary of State website. More than 81% counties/precincts have reported their results.
However, the Secretary of State website did not update after 10 p.m. Tuesday, and it appears to be delayed Wednesday. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports 851,739 votes have been cast in the primary. According to their tally, Ossoff has 50% percent of the vote followed by Tomlinson with 15%. Nearly 97% of precincts have reported their results.
ESPLOST
With 100% of precincts reporting as of 4:06 p.m., ‘Yes’ leads ‘No’ 21,077 votes to 9,554.
Read more about the ESPLOST referendum results here.
This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 9:25 PM.