Election Day Coverage: What you need to know going into today’s Georgia primaries

Georgia voters will choose party nominees for high-profile races like the primary to decide which Republican will face Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and down-ballot seats like the Georgia Public Service Commission. Many of these races are likely to go to a runoff since Georgia law requires a candidate to clinch 50% of the vote to win outright, and that’s a difficult feat with so many crowded contests. But a pair of closely watched Georgia Supreme Court races will be among the nonpartisan judicial races decided by Tuesday’s results.

KEY EVENTS

A dispatch from Kennesaw: ‘It’s been a lot, a hard election for me.’

By the time polls opened at Shiloh Hills Baptist Church in Kennesaw, a line of about a dozen people had already formed outside the church doors.

Retired office worker Linda Robertson of Kennesaw was number 10 in line and reported a quick and easy voting process. 

Robertson said she stopped voting for a while but has been a consistent voter in more recent years.

“I registered to vote when I was young, but then after a while I quit, just got a little lazy, and then I started back up again,” she said. “It’s just important. I realize as I get older, that’s the right we have, and it’s up to me to take it or not.”

Robertson cast votes in the Republican primaries for Congressman Mike Collins for U.S. Senate and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones for governor.

“Their values line up with mine – now, whether they do what they say –” she trailed off with a laugh and a shrug. “But their values do line up.”

Not long after Robertson cast her ballot, retired teacher Susan Austin cast hers.

Austin, who also lives in Kennesaw, said she also pulled a Republican ballot but voted for Derek Dooley for U.S. Senate and Chris Carr for governor.

She said she would have voted earlier, but with so many candidates on the ballot, it took her weeks to make her selections. Recent polling had shown that high numbers of undecided voters were still mulling their choices, and one of the big questions is which candidates will win over those voters. 

“With all the accusations that have been out there, just about the time you think, ‘OK I’m going to vote for this person,’ then you get a flyer in the mail and then you have to research that,” she said. “So it’s been a lot, a hard election for me.”

But despite the hassle of studying a superfluity of office-seekers, Austin said she felt pride walking out of the polling place.

“I think about the people who live in countries where they don’t get to vote, you know?” she said. “They have not only a government forced on them, but the government doesn’t give them the freedoms that we have. So I would encourage everybody to really be thankful for the freedom that we have and the privilege of voting.”

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The polls are open in Georgia

It’s 7 a.m., polling places are open, and today’s forecast calls for sunny skies and a high chance of democracy.

It’s Election Day in Georgia, and unless you’re one of the more than 1 million Georgians who have already cast a ballot during early voting, it’s your chance to have a say in who the state’s next leaders will be.

Today is the primary election, which means voters from the Democratic and Republican parties will pick their candidates to face off against one another during the November general election, mostly. Nonpartisan races for judges will be decided today, including a pair of seats on the Georgia Supreme Court that have picked up some national attention.

The highest profile races on the ballot are for governor and one of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats, but a whole lot of influential jobs like lieutenant governor, state school superintendent and attorney general are also up. Depending on where you live, you will also be able to vote on your representatives in the state House and Senate and local offices like mayor, county commissioner and city council.

You can visit the secretary of state’s My Voter Page to see whether you are registered to vote (if not, you can still register to vote in November’s election) and to see where to go to vote. On Election Day, unlike during early voting, people can only vote at their assigned polling places. You can also check out who will be on your ballot.

You’ll need to bring an ID to cast a ballot.

The Georgia Sun will have election results tonight as they come in.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.