Election officials agree voters never had so many opportunities to cast ballots as during 2010.
Outside a Presidential election year this has been the busiest, according to Donna Bomar of the Catoosa County Board of Elections and Registration.
“We had a special election, with runoff; a primary, with runoff; a general election, with runoff and Fort Oglethorpe had a special city election,” she said. “That’s the most in my 10 years here.”
All Georgians picked representatives and senators to federal and state legislatures, a new governor and candidates vying for a long list of state offices.
Catoosa residents voted to fill seats on the school board and county commission. Those registered in Fort Oglehtorpe also went to the polls to choose a mayor following the death of Ronnie Cobb.
David Moeller and Jane Everett were re-elected to the school board. Moeller was unopposed, while Everett defeated challengers Pat Page and Daphne Scherzer.
Incumbents DeWayne Hill and Bobby Winters were re-elected to the county board of commissioners. Hill turned back David Tatum during the primary. Winters gained more votes than challengers Stephanie Dickert and Mark Lindsay during the primary and defeated Dickert in a runoff.
There were three new faces on the Fort Oglethorpe City Council during 2010.
Councilmen Eddie Stinnett and Earl Gray, elected in 2009, were sworn in Jan. 4, 2010.
Fort Oglethorpe Mayor Ronnie Cobb’s death on Aug. 17 made it necessary to hold a special election on Nov. 2 to select someone to serve the remainder of his term.
Lynn Long, former head of the county commission, defeated former mayor Judd Burkhart and former councilmen Richard Egeland and Harold Silcox to win the mayoral special election.
There will be fewer calls to the polls in the coming year, according to Bomar.
“There is ESPLOST in March,” she said. And both Ringgold and Fort Oglethorpe will hold city elections in 2011.”