Their numbers were small, but Georgia voters spoke loudly at the polls in Tuesday’s primary election runoffs.
They shouted change, ousting numerous incumbents from office before their Northwest Georgia counties even got to Election Day.
Among the defeated were Catoosa County Commission Chairman Bill Clark, Walker County Superior Court Clerk Bill McDaniel, Dade County Commissioner David Young, Chattooga County Sheriff Ralph Kellett and Murray County School Board member Julius Weyman.
All lost to a challenger from their own party.
Mr. Clark said he’s had to make some unpopular decisions as chairman, and apparently those decisions caught up with him.
Challenger Keith Greene got 64 percent of the total, 1,876 votes, to earn the Republican nomination and bragging rights over Mr. Clark’s showing of 1,037 votes.
“Today’s turnout was a nonpartisan effort. Both Democrats and Republicans were out voting for me today,” Mr. Greene said. “That shows they are ready to unite the county, and that’s the one thing I want to do.
“I want to help the county move forward, and the only way to do that is by being united. It’s going to take Fort Oglethorpe, Ringgold and the county governments working together,” said the 44-year-old nominee.
Mr. Clark wished his GOP opponent well in his race against Democratic nominee Lynn Long, a former county commission chairman who was unopposed in the July 15 primary.
“I want to thank all my supporters for all their hard work,” Mr. Clark, 72, said Tuesday evening. “As chairman, sometimes you have to tell people no, and they don’t like it. You know, there’s never been a chairman elected for a second term.”
Tuesday’s results will be unofficial and incomplete until they are certified by the state secretary of state’s office. Catoosa County election officials said they expect the certification will be completed within a couple weeks.
But there was no question the voters stayed away in droves.
Single-digit voter turnout was the norm at the polls three weeks after the July 15 primary vote failed to give some candidates the 50 percent plus one vote minimum it takes to win in Georgia.
As with Mr. Clark and Mr. Greene, the top two vote getters in a number of July 15 contests with three or more candidates originally were matched back up Tuesday to see who would get their party’s nomination.
For most victors Tuesday, there is still the Nov. 4 contest against the other party’s candidate to determine who gets the office.
Mr. Greene, a newcomer to politics and relatively new to the area, said he will turn his focus toward the Nov. 4 general election when the turnout will be much greater than the 9 percent of Catoosa voters on Tuesday.
Mr. Greene is retired U.S. Army National Guard major and is an electrical engineer with Roper Industries.
Some of his Mr. Greene’s supporters said they believe the county’s fire protection issue helped to defeat Mr. Clark. Several volunteer firefighters were at the Courthouse Annex watching the returns. Many of them blamed Mr. Clark and other commissioners for the move from an all volunteer firefighter unit to one with a paid chief and about 20 paid employees. The former chief of the volunteers, Chuck Gass, said the volunteer group had provided coverage for about 15 years before the commission abruptly changed the procedure.
Mr. Greene said he wants to look at a fair solution for the fire department, if he is elected. He said he is only one vote on the five-person panel and it will take unity to accomplish goals, he said.
“sad” turnout
Catoosa Election Registrar Donna Bomar said voter participation was 9.39 percent, down from the 11 percent on July 15.
But she expects heavy voter turnout for the November general election. Many of the people who have registered in recent weeks said they are doing to so to ensure that they can vote in November, she said.
Across the region the turnout was light, but some poll workers had a good attitude.
“It’s been kinda steady, we’ve had one or two at a time since 7 a.m.,” Patricia Cook, assistant manager of Walker County’s Chickamauga Precinct, said. “It could be worse.”
By 10:10 a.m., 36 people had voted, she said.
Just as about a dozen people per hour were voting in Chickamauga, similar numbers were reported at the Rossville Precinct where 51 had cast ballots as of noon.
“Sad, isn’t it,” said Sherry Foster, poll manager at Rossville City Hall.
Halfway through election day, Lowanna Vaughan , supervisor of elections for Dade County, said voters were just a trickle at the polls.
There were a total of 356 votes cast as of 1 p.m., she said.
challengers win
There was only a Democratic Party runoff ballot in Walker County and it contained one local and one statewide race.
In the local race, challenger Debbie Lawrence defeated incumbent Superior Court Clerk Bill McDaniel to become the Democratic nominee.
Ms. Lawrence garnered 975 votes to Mr. McDaniel’s 706, meaning she will face GOP candidate Carter Brown on Nov. 4.
“This is my first time to run for office, and it feels pretty good right now,” Ms. Lawrence said after unofficial results were tallied. “I’ve had a great group working with me to make this work.”
In Chattooga County, incumbent Sheriff Ralph Kellett’s sound defeat by challenger Joe Reed means Mr. Reed takes the job.
Mr. Everett had a total of 2,600 votes to Mr. Kellett’s 1,864 votes, and will be sworn in as sheriff since no Republican sought the office.
Jason Winters won the race for sole county commissioner, receiving 2,515 votes, over Joe Reed who got 1,911 votes. He will face Republican Charles Black in the general election
Dade County voters had the single statewide race on the Democratic Party ballot, but the Republican ballot had local contests for county executive and a county commission seat.
Republicans narrowly settled on Ted Rumley as the GOP candidate for county executive/chairman. He bested Allan Bradford by a total of 14 votes — 628 to 614 — and will face Democratic candidate Don Townsend in the general election.
In the contest for County Commissioner for District 3, Robert Goff received 324 votes for a win over incumbent David Young who received 150 votes.
Mr. Goff will face Carrie Carter, an independent, in November.
In Murray County, Ricky Mallett got 1,247 votes to defeat incumbent District 1 School Board member Julius Weyman, who had 682 votes.
And for clerk of Superior Court, Connie Gallman Reed had 1,307 votes to nearly double the total fellow Democrat Tommy Parker had, at 702 votes.
