ALERT: July 24th, Run-Off Election in Georgia
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, July 6, 2018 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
On June 29 th , the secretary of state reminded voters that polling places in Georgia counties would open Monday, July 2 nd for early voting in the July 24 th primary run-off election. Polls were closed for July 4 th , but will be open weekdays through July 20 th , at times and locations indicated by each district.
Ballots will differ according to party and district and some may include run-off candidates for Congress or judges, as well. Registered voters that did not vote in the primary or voted non-partisan are eligible to vote in either party’s run-off election.
Republicans have run-off candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and six state House districts – 19, 36, 907, 102, 105, and 141. Democrats have run-offs for U.S. House districts 6 and 7, the state school superintendent, and two state House districts – 111 and 144.Data revealed in the June 29th report of an Alabama-based national research firm indicated the governor’s race to be a dead heat – 44 percent for Casey Cagle and 43 percent for Brian Kemp. Cagle has a tree-point advantage (45 to 42) among men, but women are evenly split at 42 percent for each candidate. While Cagle leads by 15 points among voters over 70 years old, voters between 55 and 69 favor Kemp by 10 points.
The same survey said that, since the primary, Cagle’s vote has increased 4.78 percent, but Kemp’s was up 19.1 percent. Cagle and Kemp are within 0.4 percent of each other in the Atlanta media market, which covers 64 percent of the state, but Cagle has a strong lead of 10 percent in the state’s second biggest media market, that covers 10 percent of the state.
Both run-off candidates for lieutenant governor served in the Georgia General Assembly. David Shafer, first elected in a February 2002 special election, served Senate District 48 for 16 years, and is immediate past president pro tem of the Senate. Although Senator Shafer remained in the Senate, he resigned as speaker pro tem in 2017. Geoff Duncan represented House District 26 from 2012 until September 18, 2017, when he resigned to run for lieutenant governor.
Run-off candidates for secretary of state are David Belle Isle, who was Alpharetta’s mayor for the past six years, and Brad Raffensperger, who has represented House District 50 since February 2015.
The run-off election is July 24th , but early voting ends July 20th . For Georgia Insight , I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.