Early voting for two city elections will begin Monday, Oct. 16 and run through Friday, Nov. 3. Candidates for mayor and city council are vying for office in the cities of Ellijay and East Ellijay.
Early voting locations will be the city halls of Ellijay (197 North Main Street) and East Ellijay (107 Oak Street).
In Ellijay, early voting can be done from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on two Saturdays, Oct. 21 and 28.
In East Ellijay, early voting can be also be done from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on the same two Saturdays, Oct. 21 and 28.
For the Ellijay election, Mayor Al Hoyle and current mayor pro-tem Sandy Ott will face off in the mayor’s race, while six candidates are running for city council seats. They are: Tom Crawford (I), Jeff Dill, Al Fuller (I), Thomas Griffith, Claudia Penland and Kevin Pritchett (I). All five of Ellijay’s city council seats are up for election.
In East Ellijay, Mayor Don Callihan and Tom Ocobock will face off in the mayor’s race, while six candidates are running for city council. They are: Chris Callihan (I), Ed Forrester (I), Veronica Kincaid, Cindy Hoyle Musselwhite, Linda Smith (I) and James Waters (I). All four of East Ellijay’s council seats are up for election.
Election Day for both cities will be Tuesday, Nov. 7. At that time, the polling places will be the Gilmer County Civic Center for Ellijay and East Ellijay City Hall for East Ellijay.
The Times-Courier began running articles about the candidates in each race last week and will continue to do so as they are received.