John Hancock was elected President of the Second Continental Congress on May 24, 1775.
Then-Lt. Governor Marvin Griffin announced his candidacy for Governor on May 24, 1954.
John Smoltz tied the record for most strikeouts by a Braves pitcher, throwing 15 Ks against Montreal Expos on May 24, 1992.
Happy Birthday to Bob Dylan, who was born on this day in 1941.
Two years ago today, the 2016 General Primary and Nonpartisan General Election was held in Georgia.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Red snapper, one of the tastiest of all fish, may be legal to catch in Georgia if a regulatory change is enacted, according to The Brunswick Times.
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council passed the change — Snapper Grouper Amendment 43 — at its meeting in September 2017. NOAA Fisheries published the rule last week, and is now receiving public comments through June 18.
For the limited season, there would be a total annual catch limit of 42,510 fish, of which 29,656 are reserved for recreational harvesting. The recreational bag limit would be one red snapper per day. The commercial limit would be set at 124,815 pounds whole, with a trip limit of 75 pounds gutted. There would not be any size restrictions.
The Commerce Department gave the OK to a limited red snapper season in late 2017, but the announcement came so close to the season that many fishermen did not have enough time prepare to take full advantage. Should this amendment be approved, it would also need a thumbs-up from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis won reelection with 56 percent of the vote, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Davis won re-election with 56 percent of the vote, carrying 42 precincts while [Challenger Gould] Hagler won 26. Turnout was just over 26 percent of the city’s 117,000 registered voters.
“The citizens of Augusta came out to the polls, they voted and they said we want to give you four more years,” Davis said. “When you look at the body of work the commission has done, that we have done over the last four years, positioning Augusta to be that premier city in the state of Georgia in which to live, to learn, to work and to raise a family – I think that speaks volumes to the citizens that came out and voted in this election.”
Republican Vance Smith returns to the State House, according to the LaGrange Daily News.
The race came to a close Tuesday, with Smith receiving approximately 89 percent of the vote for the Republican nomination. He will now run unopposed in the general election.
His opponent, Christopher Gyening received approximately 10 percent of the vote.
“My wife and I, we are very excited,” Smith said shortly after results were tallied. “We had a great team of people working together and couldn’t have done it without them. I want to hear what the people have in mind, some of the issues they are facing, and I want to be able to communicate those issues to Atlanta. I just look forward to representing this area and making sure we are in on all the conversations to bring business here to create some jobs.”
Columbus City Council member Skip Henderson was elected Mayor without a runoff, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
With all of the early vote and the city’s 25 voting precincts reporting about 1 a.m., Henderson had 13,481 votes, or 56.3 percent, to Baker’s 7,656, or 32 percent.
Henderson, 59, who resigned his citywide Columbus Council seat to run for mayor, was considered the one to beat, having five times won at-large elections. Baker, 41, a frequent candidate who forced Mayor Teresa Tomlinson into a runoff in her first run for office in 2010, was considered the contender most likely to gain enough votes to send the race into a July 24 runoff.
First elected to council in 1996, Henderson was known for his expertise in city finance and budgeting, and had the support of council colleagues Evelyn Turner Pugh, Judy Thomas, Mike Baker and Gary Allen, and from former councilor Jack Rodgers, a fiscal conservative.
Republican State House District 141 candidates Dale Washburn and Gary Bechtel head to a primary runoff election, according to the Macon Telegraph.
Republicans Dale Washburn and Gary Bechtel will head to a runoff that will decide which of them will represent House District 141 under the Gold Dome. They got about 34 percent and 27 percent of the vote, respectively.
The two Realtors were fairly close in campaign contributions. Washburn reported raising about $34,000 and loaning himself another $10,000. Bechtel raised about $53,000.
Name recognition also has value. Bechtel has a boatload of that. Between the county commission and the school board, he has been a Bibb County officeholder for about 18 years.
Not a single Democrat signed up to run in the deep red district. So the Republican primary runoff will decide it.
Democratic candidates for State House District 144 Jessica Walden and Gregory Odoms will be on the primary runoff ballot, according to the Macon Telegraph.
In a district that’s sent a Republican to the Gold Dome for years, Democrat Walden reported raising about $33,000 for the election. That’s more than 10 times as much as the next closest candidate of either party who filed reports.
Odoms’ report has not been filed, but he said he’s raised about $200.
Walden is a communications consultant and is the niece and daughter of the brothers who founded Capricorn Records. Odoms is a pastor and former member of the Twiggs County Board of Education. They got roughly 34 and 29 percent of the vote, respectively.
On the Republican side, [Danny] Mathis, a coroner and funeral service provider from Bleckley County, got about 64 percent of the vote. So he needs no runoff against fellow Republicans Trey Ennis, an attorney, and Milton Sampson, a retiree.
Muscogee County Board of Education District 2 voters will choose between two runoff election candidates, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Retired teacher Mike Edmondson received 1,864 votes (47 percent), Kar-Tunes owner John “Bart” Steed 1,172 votes (30 percent) and Aflac claims specialist Sheryl Hobbs McCraine 897 votes (23 percent).
In early voting, Edmondson had 55 percent of the vote, with 535, followed by McCraine with 231 and Steed with 198.
District 2 representative John Thomas, an IRS agent, is in his first term and didn’t seek re-election but is supporting McCraine.
Bulloch County Commission District 2B will host a runoff election, according to the Statesboro Herald.
Incumbent Walter Gibson garnered the most votes with 1,762 (about 43 percent), while challenger Travis Chance pulled in 1,248 votes (about 31 percent). Republican challenger Sid Jones trailed behind with 1,073 votes.
Formerly a Statesboro city councilman, Chance resigned from that position to run for the county commission seat, planning to move out of the city limits. During his campaign, he said he felt his experience would help improve the relationship between city and county governments. He also said he feels Bulloch County should capitalize on its potential for growing jobs and industry.
During his campaign, Gibson, who has served several terms, focused on budgets and millage rates and touted past accomplishments county commissioners have achieved to improve the county.
State Rep. Jason Spencer (R-Woodbine) was retired by voters after four terms, according to The Brunswick News.
He has been challenged in the Republican primary elections each time he sought another term in office. Spencer, who was seeking a fifth Republican primary win, lost handily in Tuesday’s Republican primary election. He received 42 percent of the vote against his opponent, Steven Sainz, a 24-year-old political newcomer who had never sought public office before.
District 180 encompasses most of Camden County and parts of Charlton and Ware counties. Spencer defeated Sainz by 13 votes in Charlton County and by 61 votes in Ware County.
But in Camden, his home county, Spencer lost by more than 700 votes. He got 1,241 votes, or 38 percent, in Camden County, while Sainz got 2,458 votes, or 62 percent.
Jim Stein, former chair and current board member of the Camden County Republican Party, said he was not surprised Spencer lost because Spencer rubbed people the wrong way in Atlanta.
“I don’t recall we’ve ever had anyone with this much time in office with this much opposition,” he said. “He stayed at odds with the folks in Atlanta. It was obvious because of Spencer’s antics they weren’t going to work with him.”
Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education President candidates Joe Buck and Betty Morgan face each other in a runoff election, according to the Savannah Morning News.
In unofficial results, Buck received 45.31 percent, or 12,988 votes. Morgan came in second in the field of five candidates with 24 percent of the vote, or 6,894 votes.
A run-off is required due to Buck not receiving 50 percent plus one of the vote. The run-off will be held on July 24.
Buck served as school board president from 2007 to 2014.
“Morgan is a dedicated former teacher and she’ll do a good job in the run-off,” Buck said. “I’m looking forward to working with her through it.”
State Rep. Darrel Ealum (D-Albany) was retired in his party’s primary election, according to The Albany Herald.
House 153 challenger CaMia Hopson pulled off a monumental upset Tuesday in the House District 153 Democratic Primary, ousting incumbent Darrel Ealum by 90 votes.
With all precincts reporting, Hopson pulled in 1,928 votes (51.28 percent), while Ealum, who was first elected to the House in 2010, tallied 1,832 votes (48.72 percent). The numbers stuck, and Hopson will face Republican challenger Tracy Taylor in the November general election.
“I’m ecstatic right now,” Hopson said moments after final results were announced. “I think there were a couple of things that made the difference in this race. One, the people who know me know I really care about making our community better. And two, I think people have just reached a point where they expect more from the people who represent them.”
Now the question is does she have a strategy against Republican Tracy Taylor in November’s general election?
Dougherty County Commission District 2 incumbent John Hayes was forced into a runoff, according to the Albany Herald.
Hayes finished second in a three-way race for the seat, collecting 582 votes to challenger — and former Commissioner — Victor Edwards’ 643. Edwards’ winning total, though, amounted to only 38.69 percent of the total vote, so he and Hayes will square off in a July 24 runoff to determine who will claim the seat.
Incorrect ballot formatting led to delays in counting Floyd County votes, according to the Rome News-Tribune.
The two county school board seats were included on ballots for the six city precincts although Rome residents — who have a separate school system — are ineligible to vote in those races.
Elections Board Chairman Steve Miller said Wednesday the two races had to be manually removed from those precincts’ memory cards before the results from any precincts could be tabulated and reported.
“The error in the ballot happened in the (county elections) office and I can assure you it will not happen again,” Miller said. “We’ll have a meeting to discuss it, but we’re going to have more than two people proofreading the ballots from now on.”
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce rolled out its “8 for 18” legislative wish list in St Simons Island, according to The Brunswick Times.
Chris Clark, Georgia chamber president, laid out those priorities Wednesday during a breakfast meeting at King & Prince Beach and Golf Resort on St. Simons Island.
“We’ve got to make sure we maintain our positive business climate,” Clark said to a crowd of local business leaders and elected officials.
The chamber’s campaign, dubbed “8 for 18,” emphasizes eight key areas facing statewide policy makers: business climate, infrastructure, prosperity and diversity, workforce development, trade, health care, rural Georgia and entrepreneurship.
Of particular interest to some Golden Isles business owners, Clark said the Georgia chamber is supporting a state constitutional amendment that would divert some taxes toward tourism and recreation.
The Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Act, if approved by voters in November, would take a portion of taxes collected from the sale of recreational equipment and licenses and redirect that money to permanent fund for maintaining state parks and recreational areas.
Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST)
Middle Georgia voters rejected an 11-county T-SPLOST, according to the Macon Telegraph.
The Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or T-SPLOST, on the ballot in 11 Middle Georgia counties narrowly failed by a vote of 31,024 against it to 29,748 in favor, according to unofficial results. The 1-percent additional sales tax over 10 years was expected to raise $637 million, funding 55 specific projects with 75 percent of the funds and the rest of the money going to counties to be spent on local transportation projects.
Laura Mathis, executive director of the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, said without approval of the tax there is no alternative funding for the projects at this time. However, she added that the state could fund some of the projects in the future.
It’s the second time the tax has failed. It also failed on 2012, but this time it was much closer. It could be considered again if enough counties want it.
Tommy French, chairman of the Baldwin County Commission, said he would like to see it re-considered at some point. Baldwin was among six counties where a majority of voters approved it, with 2,715 voting for it in Baldwin and 2,139 against it. French said voters there recognized the need for it.
Voters in Houston played a key role in the defeat of the tax, voting it down by a margin of 7,769 opposed and 6,390 in favor. It was closer in Bibb County, but it also failed there by 10,799 to 10,555. The overall outcome was based on the total number of votes in the region.
Bulloch County voters approved a T-SPLOST on Tuesday, according to the Statesboro Herald.
The proposal by the county government and the cities of Statesboro, Brooklet, Portal and Register for a T-SPLOST, or sales tax for transportation, was approved by 58.7 percent of voters. While 4,394 voted “yes,” 3,089 voted “no.”
“I’m very thankful to the citizens of Bulloch County for supporting it, and it’s going to benefit our county greatly,” said Bulloch County Board of Commissioners Chairman Roy Thompson. “We’re just behind in road paving and resurfacing and bridges, you know. The Akins Pond Road bridge is a great example of that.”
The T-SPLOST is an added 1 percent sales tax and not a continuation, so total sales taxes on nonexempt items here will rise to 8 cents on the dollar when the tax takes effect in October.
South Georgia voters in an 18-county region approved a T-SPLOST, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
With the 18-county South Georgia region approving T-SPLOST, Lowndes County residents will see a 1 percent sales tax increase effective Oct. 1.
T-SPLOST will raise more than $500 million to fund about 150 transportation projects across the region, including nine for Valdosta and 12 for Lowndes County.
Tuesday, residents across the region voted 19,975 in favor to 17,731 against, according to a county-by-county compilation of results available at the Georgia Secretary of State’s website. Lowndes County voted against T-SPLOST by 1,377 votes.
“I’m happy that we were able to close the gap between those against and in favor,” [Valdosta Mayor John] Gayle said. “We didn’t have a campaign to really push for this last time in 2012 but I think it made it difference this go around.”
“I think, in 10 years time, all of this anger and dissatisfaction will die down, and people will be pleased with the results and with how much we will improve,” [State DOT Board member Tim] Golden said.
Voter Turnout
Glynn County voter turnout was consistent with recent elections, according to The Brunswick News.
According to Monica Couch, elections and registration supervisor, voters cast 10,393 ballots in the primary on election day, during early voting and through absentee ballots.
That’s up from the May 2016 primary, in which voters cast 10,026 ballots, but down from 2014’s primary, where 10,883 county residents voted.
“The turnout was a little lower than it was in 2014 and we didn’t have any significant issues. It went pretty well,” Couch said.
In 2014, 3,465 people voted early compared to 3,271 in 2016 and 3,448 this year. Mail-in ballots accounted for 390, 319 and 147 in 2014, 2016 and 2018, respectively.
A smaller percentage of voters took to the polls this year, however, with only 22.3 percent of registered voters in Glynn County casting ballots. That compares to 24.7 percent in 2014 and 24.3 percent in 2016.
The Savannah Morning News reports 17.45% of eligible voters turned out for the primary elections on Tuesday.
Henry County reported higher early voting this year, according to the Henry Herald.
Compared to the totals from the May 2016 election and the May 2014 election, more voters participated in early voting during this election cycle.
According to data from Tina Lunsford, Henry County’s director of elections and registration, 8,167 Henry voters participated in the early and advance voting sessions from April 30 to May 18.
Of those 8,167 voters, a total of 4,118 voters filled out the Democratic ballot, 3,986 filled out the Republican ballot and 63 filled out a non-partisan ballot.
In May of 2016, for a primary election which featured primary races for a U.S. Senate seat, the chairperson of the Henry County Board of Commissioners and two commissioners’ seats, a total of 6,125 voters cast their ballots early.
In May 2014, during a primary election that featured a primary for the other U.S. Senate seat and for the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and three seats on the Henry County Board of Commissioners, a total of 4,761 voters cast their ballots early.
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