Glascock County leads Peach state in early voting rate, one week until primary election

Graham Lee
·2 min read

GLASCOCK COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF) – With one week until the primary election in Georgia, one of our local counties has the highest rate of early voting turnout in the state.

Early voting seems to be a tradition in Glascock County, and voters say it’s a big deal.

“I vote because you need to vote. You know everybody needs to vote,” said William May.

According to the Georgia Secretary of State Office, the county is leading the state in per capita turnout at 3.9%.

Probate Judge Johnny Pearson serves as the Superintendent for Glascock County’s Board of Elections.

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He says the numbers are normal for the county with a population of just 3,000 people.

“So far, we have had 329 as of a few moments ago. We have 2,029 registered voters in the county,” said Pearson.

There are several seats set for the Primary Election and General Non-partisan elections, including the Commission Chair, Commission District 1, and a contested election for Sheriff.

Republican Nominee Don Hilson is running against incumbent Sheriff Jeremy Kelley.

Those going to the polls say they’re hoping for changes to be made around the county.

“I would like to see some changes on some structure. Usually, the citizens kind of take care of themselves and take care of each other, and I would like to see that a little more,” said Courtney Shelton.

“Some of these roads they’re having a hard time keeping up. I don’t know if we have the money to keep them up or not, but every time there comes a bad rain, it washes them out. We got a lot of dirt roads in the county, so it keeps it busy, you know what I’m saying,” said May.

But it all starts with making their voices heard.

“I think we like to voice our opinion, and we like to make sure that it’s heard by voting. We want to make sure that we vote each time, so I think a lot of us in this county go ahead and get out to voting as early as we can,” said Shelton.

“I guess it’s patriotic,” Pearson said.

Georgia’s statewide primary election is next Tuesday, May 21st.

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