Rain depresses voter turnout in Dougherty County

ALBANY – Enthusiasm for the Tuesday general runoff election was not evident in Dougherty County, with turnout coming in at 10.51% of active voters participating.

Lee County actually had stronger turnout for early voting, Dougherty County Elections Supervisor Ginger Nickerson said of the county with a strong Republican leaning. There were also local school board races on the Lee County ballot, while no local elections were on the ballot in Dougherty county.

A rainy day also depressed Dougherty County turnout, Nickerson said.

“A lot of people don’t vote when it’s raining,” she said. “People don’t do a lot of things when it’s raining.”

Some of that enthusiasm north of Dougherty County was likely due to the Republican race to replace outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp, who cannot seek a third term because of term limits.

In that contest, political newcomer Rick Jackson pulled out a narrow win, finishing with 51.76% of the votes in unofficial results to 48.24% for Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. A total of 709,253 Georgia voters cast ballots in that race.

Jackson, who reportedly spent more than $100 million of his own money in the primary’s general and runoff contests, will face former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Nov. 3. 

Jackson made appearances in Albany several times during the campaign.

Another big contest on the ballot was the runoff between U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and Derek Dooley, who were vying for the Republican nomination to face Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in November. Collins finished first in the race with 55.54% of the vote to Dooley’s 44.46%.

As expected, Democratic turnout was heavier in Dougherty County, with more voters casting ballots in the Democratic runoff for lieutenant governor, at 3,682, than were cast in the Republican governor’s race, with 2,388 choosing Republican ballots.

Josh McLaurin came out on top on the Democratic side, receiving 210,660 votes, or 54.88%, over Nabilah Parkes at 173,185 votes, to move on to the fall general election to face Republican Greg Dolezal.

Other statewide races on the fall ballot include secretary of state, insurance commissioner, state school superintendent, Public Service Commissioner and labor commissioner.

Albanian Barbara Rivera Holmes will be the Republican candidate for Labor commissioner. Her opponent will be Democrat Nikkie Porcher, who won the Tuesday runoff against Michelle Sanchez.

In Dougherty County, 6,160 turned out for the runoff, including votes cast on Election Day and during early voting, out of 58,633 registered voters in the county. More than 1 million voters cast ballots statewide in the runoff contests.