Colquitt County voters support hometown Senator

Alan Mauldin

MOULTRIE — More than 40 percent of the county’s voters turned out — either in early voting or at the polls Tuesday — to cast their ballots in three runoff races. Most voted for hometown U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who was declared the winner in the Senate runoff.

With all Colquitt County votes tallied, Chambliss, the Republican, raked in 72.4 percent of votes cast, while Democratic challenger Jim Martin received 27.6 percent.

Chambliss received 5,306 votes to Martin’s 2,023 among the 40.38 percent of Colquitt County voters who cast ballots.

With the win Chambliss will receive a second six-year term.

In the Public Service Commission race, Republican Lauren McDonald Jr. also received the majority of votes in the county with 4,574, 68.57 percent, to Democrat Jim Powell’s 2,097 votes, or 31.43 percent.

In the race for a seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals, Sara Doyle received 3,357 votes in Colquitt County, 56.96 percent, to Mike Sheffield’s 2,533 votes, 43.04 percent.

The number of voters showing up for a statewide runoff indicated a good interest in the Senate race, said Probate Court Wes Lewis, who also serves as election supervisor.

“Since I’ve been on board -- this is my 11th election -- generally in a statewide runoff you have seen less than 5 percent,” he said. “That’s pretty good.

“Certainly for a higher-profile office like U.S. Senate, that drove the vote. With a runoff it’s hard to tell. I’m guessing we’re going to be on the higher end of counties for a runoff.”

In a Senate runoff in 1992, when incumbent Democrat Wyche Fowler lost to Republican Paul Coverdell, 39.7 percent of Colquitt County voters went to the polls.

The vote totals on Tuesday included 2,400 people who voted in the early-voting period and 490 mail-in paper ballots, out of the total of 7,848 votes cast.

The flow of voters was manageable and there were no problems with long lines, Lewis said.

“Basically we just had a steady flow of voters all day,” he said. “It wasn’t too slow, it wasn’t too fast. It was just a good flow.

“I appreciate my poll workers and the voters to come out and vote. It helps the time pass quicker when more people come out and vote.”

Chambliss’ status as a county resident could have contributed to voter turnout here, Lewis said.

“It was definitely a factor,” he said. “I’ll have to see what other counties show.”

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