Early voting for primary in final days

Advance voting for next Tuesday’s general primary has been slow, but voters still having until 5 p.m. Friday to cast their ballots.

“We had almost three times more than this four years ago,” said Laurens County Registrar Susan Rooks. “As of (Monday) night, we’ve had 1,759 who have voted here in the office, and I have mailed out, as of last Friday, 399 ballots and I’ve had 160 returned. 

“I thought we would have had a lot more voting. As of the end of advance voting four years ago, we almost had 4,000 people who had voted.” 

Registered voters will have to choose between the Democrat, Republican or non-partisan ballots when they enter the Laurens County Registrar’s Office, 117 E. Jackson St. Voting will be held 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the final two days of advance voting. After that they will have to go to their precinct on Tuesday, May 21.

“If they don’t know where their precinct is, they can call us,” Rooks said. “The sample ballot was in the paper and they can ask for a sample ballot in this office.” 

Locally, the Republican ballot has five races to that will determine a winner who will take office because no Democrats qualified for those positions. 

The biggest field is for tax commissioner, where Tim Aldridge, Sharon Arata, Darla Brown and Raj Saxena are running for the position currently held by Lee Dixon, who is not seeking re-election. 

For county commissioner, incumbent Trae Kemp qualified in District 2 and will face challengers Keith Oliver and Mike Roberson. In District 3, incumbent Jeff Davis will go up against challenger Gerad Mathis. 

Incumbent Craig Fraser and challenger Harold D. McLendon both qualified as Republicans for Dublin Circuit District Attorney.  

Republican incumbent state Sen. Larry Walker of Houston County qualified for state Senate District 20, where he will face Tori Branum of Laurens County.

In a non-partisan race for Superior Court judge, incumbent Trey Taylor will face challengers Bradford “Brad” Childers and Brandon Faircloth. 

Two local races will not be decided until the Nov. 5 general election. Sheriff Larry Dean, running as a Republican, will face challenger Tyler Jackson, who qualified as a Democrat.

For clerk of courts, Tonya Rogers qualified as a Republican, while Beatrice D. Williams threw her hat into the ring as a Democrat. 

Incumbent Jackie Dalton announced that she will retire at the end of December.

For more questions about early voting, call (478) 272-2841.