By Becky Long
Publisher
Early voting has nearly one week under its belt and the numbers are about the norm. As of Tuesday, 393 voters had taken advantage of one-stop.
Two years ago in the 2020 primary, early voting to date was 351.
As expected, voters requesting a Republican ballot are high. The GOP ballot includes all local offices including sheriff, three seats for county commission and three seats for school board. The GOP ballot has been chosen by 361 voters with 32 choosing the Democrat ballot.
In absentee by mail there have been five requests for a Democrat ballot and 10 for a Republican ballot.
Elections Board Director Rebecca Hall said the busiest times for voting at their office is 9 a.m.-11 a.m. She said the Friday after one-stop opened was their busiest with 105 voters.
In the meantime, a new commission board candidate may be entering the race. Dr. Russell Hughes has picked up a petition and is in the process of getting registered voter signatures. At this point he is 65 shy of the required goal of 371 for unaffiliated candidates.
Pam Roman is also close to getting her name on the November ballot as an unaffiliated candidate in the commission race with just 15 signatures remaining.
Glen Marcel, who is running as an unaffiliated candidate for school board had his petition approved several weeks ago, hitting the magic number of 371 on the nail.
Unaffiliated candidates have until May 17 to get their petitions and signatures certified. None of these candidates will be on the May 17 primary ballot.
Early voting is held at the Clay County Board of Elections on the lower level of the Community Services/American Legion building in Hayesville. The address is 75 Riverside Circle, Suite 3.