Early voting for the Nov. 5 general election opens Oct. 15, and while absentee voting is expected to be significantly lower than four years ago, most qualified observers believe the overall turnout will be no different than before.
Baldwin County Chief Voter Registrar Randy Morrow pointed out COVID-19 was still present for the election in 2020.
“The state mailed everybody an application because of COVID,” Morrow said last week. “We had 4,356 people vote absentee.
“This year so far, we have had 855 applications for absentee ballots,” he added, adding that Oct. 25 is the final day for absentee ballots to be mailed or applied for.
Morrow also noted early voting normally would start on Monday, Oct. 14; however, since that is Columbus Day, a recognized holiday, this year early voting will begin Tuesday, Oct.
15 and will continue for three weeks: Oct 15-19, Oct. 21-26, and Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.
Those early ballots for Baldwin County residents must be cast at the Government Building on North Columbia Street, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
Morrow said advance voting was popular in Baldwin County in 2020 with 10,526 registered voters taking advantage of the opportunity that year.
“We were voting 800 to 1,000 people per day,” he recalled.
The overall voting turnout for the county was impressive as well, Morrow added.
“There were 26,271 registered voters in 2020,” he said. “18,353 people voted, 66.68 percent.” As of Oct. 3 this year, 28,161 Baldwin County citizens are eligible to cast ballots, he added.
“I think we’ll have a heavy turnout, early and election day,” Morrow said.
Baldwin County Probate Judge and Elections Superintendent Todd Blackwell pointed out the names of Claudia De la Cruz and Cornell West will appear on the presidential ballot as independent candidates. However, any votes cast for those two will not be counted, and notices to that effect will be posted at each voting precinct and on absentee ballots.
“Basically, what it says is they’ve been disqualified, and any votes cast for them will not be counted,” Blackwell said.
In addition to Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, Chase Oliver of the Libertarian Party and Jill Stein of the Green Party will be on the ballot, and votes for them will be counted, Blackwell confirmed.
There are no contested county races, but both of the local State House of Representatives incumbents have opposition. Long-time Democratic legislator Mack Jackson is being challenged by Republican Tracy Wheeler of Sparta in District 128, while in the redrawn and renumbered House District 149, first-term Republican Ken Vance is opposed by former Milledgeville mayor Floyd Griffin.
“It’s a relatively easy ballot for Baldwin County,” Blackwell commented.
Possible changes in the rules for the upcoming election have been the subject of a great deal of media attention, but Blackwell said he does not see any significant issue for Baldwin County.
“The state election board passed a rule that all ballots must be counted. That’s different from all votes must be counted,” he clarified. “I don’t believe there will be a hand count on the contests.”
Blackwell added, however, that there will be a limited audit as required by the state after the election.
“In an audit, the Secretary of State determines which precincts or balances we will count,” he explained. “And those are hand-counted to make sure the machines counted correctly by race.”
The challenge for Blackwell’s office in 2020 was different and more difficult.
“What the Secretary of State determined was, we would not do an audit; we will do a 100% recount by hand. So, every presidential vote was hand-tabulated when the election was over. That turned out to be the largest recount in the history of the world,” he said.
There were no problems locally, the veteran elections superintendent stressed.
“The results matched what the machines told us the votes were, 100% in Baldwin County,” Blackwell said.
Another rule change drawing attention relates to the certification of election results. The existing rule calls for certification to be sent to the Secretary of State by the Monday following the election. However, the State Election Board has changed that to allow for a delay in the certification if the Board of Elections believes there is a problem, Blackwell said.
“For Baldwin County, that is not an issue for us in November because we don’t have a county board of elections. Another reason is, I personally do the certification,” Blackwell pointed out. “So, I would never not certify the numbers I personally brought together.”
The election superintendent said there are legal challenges to both of the rules adopted by the state board. It does not matter to him what the result might be, he stressed.
“We’re prepared to follow state election board rules and state law, and that’s what we are going to do,” Blackwell stated, noting again the rule regarding possible delay in certification by the local boards does not apply to Baldwin County.
Blackwell shared the results of the 2020 presidential election in Baldwin County, in which Joe Biden garnered 9,140 votes to Donald Trump’s 8,903. With the understanding that the Republican Party is associated with the color red and the Democrats blue, he pointed out that this county has a distinction in Georgia.
“The Atlanta Journal Constitution had an article in it about Baldwin County being the ‘purplest’ county in the state,” Blackwell recalled. “In the governor (election), they go a little bit Republican; in the president, they go a little bit Democratic. The margin is so thin it’s too close to call.
“We’re the purplest county in a battleground state.”