On Tuesday Georgia voters will be going to the polls in U.S. Senate runoffs that will determine party control of that chamber.
The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at all precincts, and if you vote in person you must go to your assigned precinct.
If you have an absentee ballot, that must be dropped off at a designated drop box location by 7 p.m. Tuesday.
After three weeks of early voting, Cobb Elections reports that 114,096 people voted early in-person at several locations around the county.
Those figures included 20,782 at the East Cobb Government Service Center and 7,370 at The Art Place.
Of the 146,875 absentee ballots requested by Cobb voters for the runoffs, 112,484 have been returned; more early/absentee voting details can be found here.
CANDIDATES
Both of Georgia’s Republican senators were forced into runoffs after the Nov. 3 general election.
Incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue will need to win their races in order for the GOP, which currently has a 50-48 edge, to maintain control of the U.S. Senate.
The extended Senate runoff campaign has attracted record amounts of money, expected to surpass $500 million, which has led to a slew of ads, mailings, text messages and other communications with voters.
Polling for both races since the general election has been all over the map, and some national polling firms have declined to canvass for the runoffs.
Most of that money is coming from out-of-state donors, and campaign appearances have included those on both Democratic and Republican presidential tickets.
Loeffler’s race with Democrat Raphael Warnock is a special election to fill the remaining two years of Johnny Isakson’s term.
She was appointed a year ago by Gov. Brian Kemp after Isakson, from East Cobb, retired for health reasons. His term expires at the end of 2022.
Warnock, the minister at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, received the majority of votes in the all-party “jungle primary” in November, and Loeffler finished second.
Perdue, who is finishing his first term, got just under 50 percent of the vote in a three-way general election, prompting the runoff with Ossoff, a Democrat who is in his second electoral campaign.
Ossoff lost to Karen Handel in a 2017 special election for the 6th Congressional District in what was the most expensive U.S. House race ever, with more than $30 million in spending.
Republicans, both state and national, have been in an uproar over Georgia’s presidential election results that have spilled over into the Senate runoffs.
Democratic president-elect Joe Biden was certified as the winner of Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, but Republican President Donald Trump has contested those results, charging election fraud.
Biden’s win after two recounts was less than 12,000 votes.
Loeffler and Perdue demanded GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger resign, and in recent days Trump has called on Kemp—whom he endorsed in 2018—to resign, for not intervening in the elections.
Raffensperger and Kemp have both declined, saying they are following their constitutional duties.
On Friday Trump called the runoffs “illegal and invalid” but he is scheduled to campaign with Loeffler and Perdue at a rally on Dalton on Monday. Biden will campaign for Ossoff and Warnock in Atlanta, and vice president-elect Kamala Harris will appear with the Democratic candidates in Savannah on Sunday.
Candidate Websites:
Another runoff on the ballot is for the Georgia Public Service Commission between Republican four-term incumbent Bubba McDonald and Daniel Blackman, who would become the only Democrat on the five-member state utility regulating board.
CHECK YOUR REGISTRATION
WHERE TO VOTE
Any voters in line at the polls by 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote.
If you’re dropping off an absentee ballot, here are the locations. In East Cobb, they’re located at the following:
- East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road)
- Sewell Mill Library (2051 Lower Roswell Road)
- Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road)
- Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Drive)
Absentee ballots must be dropped off by 7 p.m., when the polls close. If you have an absentee ballot but wish to vote in person, you’re asked to bring your absentee ballot to your precinct. That must be cancelled before you get a ballot at your polling location.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has created an absentee ballot tracker that lets you follow the status of your absentee ballot after you have returned it.
FOLLOW ELECTION COVERAGE
East Cobb News will have real-time coverage of the runoff results on Tuesday.
If you have questions about voting, or photos or impressions to share of your experience at the polls, let us know: editor@eastcobbnews.com.
Related content
- Richardson sworn in as Cobb Commissioner
- Cobb Elections audit finds no fraudulent absentee ballots
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- Georgia presidential election recertified after lawsuit dismissed
- Cobb: Government shredding didn’t include elections office
- Official Georgia recount begins in presidential race
- East Cobb voters stick with Trump but Biden wins precincts
- Cobb Elections explains post-shredding activities
- Cobb election results certified; Biden projected Ga. winner
- East Cobb 2020 Election Guide
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