Early voting for the Gilmer Board of Commissioners (BOC) Post 1 runoff will begin Monday, June 10. The five-day early voting period will run through Friday, June 14. There will be no weekend voting hours.
In-person voting can be done from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at the Gilmer County Voter Registrar’s Office, 1 Broad Street, Suite 107.
The BOC Post 1 contest between Karleen Ferguson and Doug Rink will be the only item on the runoff ballot, confirmed Tammy Watkins, chief registrar.
Ferguson and Rink were the top two vote-getters in the May 21 primary election, but neither candidate received the 50 percent plus one vote total needed to avoid a runoff.
The final election summary shows that 4,695 (or 20.36 percent) of the county’s 23,061 registered voters cast ballots in the May 21 primary.
Watkins said the early voting times have been extended an hour each day. The hours would normally be 8 a.m.-5 p.m., but since there are only five days of early voting for the runoff, the extra hour will allow for more people to vote early or late in the day, she noted.
“It will add 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. Sometimes we have people coming in at 8 a.m., but we normally don’t open till 8:30. (By staying open till 5:30 p.m.), we can also get some more people who get off work at 5,” she added.
Election Day for the runoff will be Tuesday, June 18. County precincts will host voting from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on that day.
Whichever candidate wins the runoff will then appear on the November presidential election ballot.