Lynn Bailey is expecting more voters than normal to turn out for Tuesday's primary election. But she says lines shouldn't be bad because high advance voting numbers last week should have helped ease the burden.
"We had a group of people in the hall waiting for us (Friday morning)," she said, adding that about 1,500 people took advantage of a new state law that allowed advance voting for an entire week before Tuesday's election.
In Columbia County, advance voting numbers also were high June 12 through Friday, with 928 voters taking the early bird approach.
"I think it'll be a very strong turnout for a primary, mainly because you have a lot of local opposition in high-profile positions," Columbia County Elections Director Deborah Marshall said about Tuesday's election.
Ms. Bailey said she expects about a 35 percent turnout Tuesday in Richmond County - which would be nearly 8 percent higher than in the 2002 primary.
"I really think we've got some good contested races on the ballot, and we've not seen that in Richmond County in several years," she said.
In Richmond County, a special election will take place for two Augusta Commission seats.
Betty Beard will try to keep her District 1 seat against Pam Kitchens, and Barbara Sims will compete for District 3 against Lorraine Barlett and David Moretz.
On the county's Democratic ballot, voters also will decide whether Ed Tarver or Charles Walker will represent the Democratic Party for the District 22 state Senate race. There are also several uncontested races within the Republican and Democratic parties for state Senate races.
Columbia County Republican voters will find themselves picking the winner for sheriff between incumbent Clay Whittle and challenger Lewis Blanchard.
Voters also will vote for the successor to retired Chief Magistrate David Huguenin and the District 3 county commission race, in which incumbent Diane Ford will face Greg Kernaghan to see whether she will continue her 12-year run as a board member.
Columbia County voters also will choose between two Republican candidates - incumbent Joey Brush and former Columbia County Commission Chairman Jim Whitehead - for the state Senate District 24 to run against Democratic candidate Chuck Pardue in November.
As on the county Democratic ballots, Republican voters will face choices for U.S. Senate, the state office of public service commissioner, the statewide race for state Supreme Court justice, Appeals Court justice and Superior Court judge for the Augusta Judicial Circuit.
On top of that, Columbia County's political parties have each placed their own slate of nonbinding, straw poll questions on a number of topics, and the county will pose a binding referendum to extend the collection of 1-cent sales tax money to go toward special projects for five more years.
In Richmond County, only Republican ballots will have straw poll questions, some of which will address proposed special purpose local option sales tax projects.
Ms. Bailey said that Richmond County's Democratic Party didn't consider placing those questions on their ballot and that the straw poll votes that Republicans will see won't be binding.
TUESDAY PRIMARY
Richmond County
Columbia County
Reach Preston Sparks at (706) 828-3904 or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.
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