Voter turnout light but steady

Voter turnout for today’s runoff elections is steady but light, election officials report.

Cobb County checked voting levels at 30 key precincts and by 3 p.m., voter participation had more than tripled, to 18,555. The county tracks voting at 30 of its 175 precincts.

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Bob Andres/bandres@ajc.com

Voters cast their runoff ballots at Noonday Baptist Church in Marietta.

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Dec. 2 runoff voting:

Local and state results U.S. Senate Georgia Public Service Commission Georgia Court of Appeals Carroll County Clayton County DeKalb County Douglas County Fulton County Gwinnett County

Photos:
• Chambliss, Martin in Atlanta | Voters

Nov. 4 voting:

Local and state results U.S. President U.S. Senate U.S. House Georgia Public Service Commission Georgia State Senate Georgia State House Georgia Constitutional Amendments Georgia Supreme Court Georgia Court of Appeals Carroll County Cherokee County Clayton County Cobb County Coweta County DeKalb County Douglas County Fayette County Forsyth County Fulton County Gwinnett County Henry County Rockdale County

Cobb had 23,345 ballots cast absentee or in early voting, according to county spokesman Robert Quigley.

At stake are three statewide offices and a number of local races in Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett.

The highest profile race is the runoff between incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democrat challenger Jim Martin. Voters are electing a new member of the Georgia Public Service Commission choosing between candidates Lauren W. McDonald Jr., a Republican, and Democrat Jim Powell.

The third runoff is for the nonpartisan Georgia Court of Appeals between candidates Sara Doyle and Mike Sheffield.

Between 150 and 200 people had voted at each of Fulton County’s 363 precincts by 10 a.m., said Mark Henderson, county coordinator of voter education and outreach.

The hot spot was St. James United Methodist Church on Peachtree Dunwoody Road in north Atlanta where 350 people had voted by 10 a.m., he said.

In Fulton, there were 23,002 advance voters.

Forsyth County appears on pace for 13,000 to 15,000 voters to turn out, said election supervisor Gary Smith. There have been 16,704 ballots cast in early voting.

Smith said the turnout with early votes could be 33 percent, higher than the 27 percent originally projected.

Voter turnout in Gwinnett County has been light by steady, said elections director Lynn Ledford. Early voting netted 13,606 ballots. The county has received another 14,344 absentee ballots, she said, and expects to receive another 2,000 today. The county is prepared for a 40 percent voter turnout.

“We are very pleasantly surprised at the absentee turnout in this one,” Ledford said. “Normally, we would have only done about 6,000. So, we’ve doubled what we normally would have done.”

Staff writers Mary MacDonald, Nancy Badertscher, Kent A. Miles and Pat Fox contributed to this article.