Cobb Commission District 2 Republican race still razor-thin

Cobb Commission District 2 race — *From left, Fitz Johnson, Andy Smith, Kevin Nicholas*

According to Cobb Elections on Tuesday morning, 9,500 absentee ballots still have to be counted from last week’s primary elections.

The process may have to be fully completed before it’s known who will be moving on to an Aug. 11 Republican runoff in the District 2 race for the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The three GOP primary candidates are currently separated by 636 votes, and the top two finishers will continue to campaign.

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, Vinings resident Fitz Johnson leads with 6,468 votes, or 36 percent. Former Cobb Planning Commission member Andy Smith has received 5,832 votes, or 32.5 percent, and Cobb Development Authority member Kevin Nicholas has 5,640 votes, or 31.4 percent.

They are vying to succeed Bob Ott, a Republican who is retiring after three terms.

(Track real-time updates here.)

Since we last tracked the results on Friday, Johnson had opened up a slightly bigger lead, and Smith separated himself a little bit more from Nicholas.

Cobb Elections staff worked into the weekend counting absentee ballots, and after Saturday still had 16,000 ballots to go. It’s not known how many of the uncounted ballots are Republican ballots cast by voters in District 2.

More than 106,000 absentee ballots were cast in the primary, a record in Cobb, and Democratic turnout has been higher overall.

Despite the close race in District 2, which is heavily Republican and includes most of East Cobb, a total of 17,940 votes have been cast for the three GOP candidates combined.

By contrast, Jerica Richardson, the only Democrat who qualified in the District 2 race, has 23,173 votes. She will face the Republican runoff winner in November.

Commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat running for Cobb Commission Chairman, got 87,555 votes. She will meet Republican incumbent Mike Boyce, who won the GOP primary wit 68 percent of the vote but received only 44,443 votes.

A total of 65,419 votes have been cast for the three GOP chairman candidates.

In Cobb Board of Education Post 5 results, Republican incumbent David Banks won a three-way primary with 6,943 votes. But his November Democratic opponent, first-time candidate Julia Hurtado, prevailed against one other foe and got 6,391 votes in a post that has been heavily GOP for years.

The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, which certifies elections results, has postponed its scheduled meeting from Wednesday to Friday at 12 p.m. That meeting will be held online, and the public can watch by signing up here.