Augusta, GA
What to know for election day
The busiest locations in Georgia this Might have been early voting areas.
Greater than 330,000 Georgians solid advance ballots within the first two weeks of early voting within the Republican and Democratic primaries and nonpartisan common election. The turnout has elections officers forecasting excessive site visitors at election day polling locations on Might 24.
Commanding probably the most voter curiosity are fiery GOP feuds – 3 in 5 early voters have solid Republican ballots. The lopsided turnout isn’t a surprise, as almost all of the GOP major races are aggressive whereas the highest-profile Democratic candidates are working both unopposed or in opposition to token competitors.
Polling locations:Columbia County | Richmond County
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With the primaries days away, here is a take a look at the marketing campaign season so far, with hyperlinks to earlier election protection from throughout the USA TODAY Georgia community.
Augusta to decide on its subsequent mayor
Augusta voters will choose a alternative for term-limited Mayor Hardie Davis among the many 9 candidates within the nonpartisan race. 4 of the candidates have held elected workplace – Charlie Hannah, A.Okay. Hasan, Steven Kendrick and Marion Williams. Political newcomers Donald Bradshaw, Robert Ingham, Garnett Johnson, Lucas Johnson and Lori Myles are additionally on the poll.
5 Augusta Fee seats are additionally up for a vote and all however one – Commissioner Brandon Garrett’s District 8 seat – are contested. Six candidates are working in District 2, two in District 4, and three every in District 6 and Tremendous District 10.
In Columbia County, voters will determine on its District 4 Fee seat and on two of its college board races. For the fee seat, first-term Commissioner Dewey Galeas, a retired Military officer and nurse anesthetist, faces Alison Sofa, a lifelong resident and small-business proprietor.
The one aggressive native major for state legislature is in Georgia Home District 132, the place Democratic incumbent Brian Prince faces challenger Traci ‘Acree’ George.
Different contested native races embrace Richmond County civil and Justice of the Peace courtroom, Richmond County State Court docket choose and two Augusta Circuit Superior Court docket judges.
2020 election bleeds over to 2022
Georgians elect state constitutional officers in the course of the midterm cycle, and the 2022 major is a mirrored image of the 2020 election outcomes.
On the GOP facet, voters have sturdy emotions about former President Donald Trump and his assault on Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for not backing the previous president’s false claims a few rigged election. Trump has endorsed candidates in six statewide races.
For the Democrats, their candidates profitable two Senate races and the presidential depend has united voters round renewed hopes for capturing state places of work. The 2020 victories have been the primary statewide wins for Democrats because the early-2000s.
GOP poll a Trump referendum?
The Trump vendetta defines the Georgia Republican major.
Trump coaxed one-time Kemp ally, former Sen. David Perdue, to enter the governor’s race. One other Trump acolyte, Congressman Jody Hice, is working for secretary of state. Different Trump-endorsed candidates are Herschel Walker for U.S. Senate, Burt Jones for lieutenant governor, John Gordon for lawyer common and Patrick Witt for insurance coverage commissioner.
Ballots solid early will not be counted till election day, so it is unknown if Trump’s participation helps or harming candidates. Georgia is an open major state, which means voters do not need to be registered members of a political celebration to vote in that celebration’s major.
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With few aggressive races on the Democratic facet, a major variety of independents and Democrats are taking GOP ballots to vote in opposition to Trump candidates. In accordance to a knowledge evaluation by the Atlanta Journal-Structure, roughly 7% or 16,000 of the early voters within the GOP major pulled a Democratic poll within the 2020 election.
Democrats lining up for the autumn
The Democrats’ focus for the first is on the November common election.
Their champion, Stacey Abrams, is working unopposed for governor within the major and Sen. Raphael Warnock drew an opponent he’s out-polling by 80 share factors. Excessive-profile candidates are heavy favorites in down-ballot races, together with Jen Jordan for lawyer common, Bee Nguyen for secretary of state and Charlie Bailey for lieutenant governor.
Democratic candidates ran sturdy 4 years in the past, with Abrams shedding to Kemp by 55,000 votes and John Barrow falling in a runoff for secretary of state.