ATLANTA (AP) – Georgians have a week left to vote early in primaries forced to runoff elections, including the Republican contest for retiring Rep. Lynn Westmoreland’s seat in Congress.
Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office reported that more than 53,000 people so far cast ballots for races around the state since July 5. Georgia law requires a runoff if no candidate wins a majority in a general primary. There are no statewide races this time, but a competitive congressional and several heated local races are drawing interest in the heat of summer.
In Cobb County, for example, election officials are seeing higher turnout for earlier voting in the Republican runoff to lead the county’s commission than they did in May. Incumbent chair Tim Lee is trying to hold off a challenge from Mike Boyce, who got the highest vote total in the primary but fell short of the majority needed to prevent a runoff.
Janine Eveler, director of elections for the Cobb County Board of Elections, said about 2,800 people voted early in the runoff so far compared to about 1,680 at this point in May.
“It is unusual,” Eveler said. “Normally, we see those numbers go down for runoffs.”