Early voting continues in Georgia House special election

Early voting is underway in a special election for a Georgia House seat in East Cobb.

Four candidates are vying to succeed former State Rep. Matt Dollar of District 45.

Republicans on the ballot include former State Rep. Mitch Kaye and Cobb GOP activists Pamela Alayon and Darryl Willson.

The Democratic candidate is Dustin McCormick, a project management official at McKesson.

Early voting began this week and according to Cobb Elections, 353 people have cast ballots.

Of those, 342 have voted at the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) and 11 at the Cobb Elections office (746 Whitlock Ave., Marietta). Another 40 ballots have been accepted in absentee voting, out of 194 ballots issued.

Early voting continues at both locations March 21-25 and March 28-April 1 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

There also will be early voting next Saturday, March 26, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the same venues.

The deadline to submit an absentee mail application is March 25, and absentee ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on April 5, which is the special election day for in-person voting.

Dollar resigned on Feb. 1 after nearly 20 years in office to take an economic development job with the Georgia technical college system.

Gov. Brian Kemp called for an April 5 special election to be decided by a “jungle” format, meaning candidates from all parties are running against one another.

If the leading candidate does not get a majority of the votes, there will be a May 3 runoff.

The winner will fill out the rest of Dollar’s term, which expires at the end of the year.

Due to redistricting, District 45 will have new boundaries for the May 24 primaries and the November general election.

None of the Republican candidates in the special election qualified for that race, but McCormick has qualified.

His name will be on the May 24 primary ballot, along with State Rep. Sharon Cooper, a Republican, who currently represents District 43, as has Cobb GOP activist Carminthia Moore.

Cobb Elections has more information on who is eligible to vote in the special election, what the current District 45 boundaries look like, and how you can check your registration status.

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