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2020 State Elections and Voter Registration Calendar courtesy of the Georgia Secretary of State's Office.
For additional key dates, click here and click on the link for 2020 Election Dates.
2020 State Elections and Voter Registration Calendar courtesy of the Georgia Secretary of State's Office.
For additional key dates, click here and click on the link for 2020 Election Dates.
By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - Pike County certified its results on Monday and sent that information to the media. To read a summary report of the Pike County General Election from November 3, 2020, click here.
This final report shows a total of 10,753 ballots cast. 2,662 were cast on election day, 6,616 were cast by those voting advanced in person, and 1,475 ballots were cast by absentee ballot.
Questions that were asked and answered by Voter Registrar Lynn Vickers today by phone. There were three ballots that were "cured" which means that the people who cast the absentee ballots were contacted and asked to complete their ballots because each of the ballots was lacking their signature.
Our Board of Elections is appointed by the Board of Commissioners, and members serve 4 year terms. Two of the members volunteered to serve a 2 year term that is up for reappointment this January. This was done to stagger the 4 year terms from this point forward. Current Board of Election members are: Joe Parks, Sharon Casey, Chris Curry, Harold O-Baner (he is serving in Carol Boronkas' seat), and Karen Brentlinger. Registrar Vickers advised that our board members here in Pike County have been very involved in this election from watching the polls to helping open ballots.
There will be not one but two upcoming elections in the next two months. There will be a December 1, 2020 state election for Public Service Commissioner, and a federal election on January 5 for both U.S. Senators for the state of Georgia. The last day to register to vote in the federal election is December 7.
More on the upcoming elections and possible recount as soon as that information is made public by the Secretary of State's Office.
Thank you to First Bank of Pike for sponsoring Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!
If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!
By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - There are 13,793 active voters in Pike County. 10,748 voters cast their ballots in this election. That is a 77.9% turnout for Pike County. There are 7 provisional ballots that will be counted in the final results on Friday.
In the Presidential Race, 9,124 cast their votes for Incumbent Donald Trump, 1,503 cast their votes for Joe Biden, and 88 for Jo Jorgensen.
In the U.S. Senate Race, 9,042 cast their votes for Incumbent David Purdue, 1,428 for Jon Ossoff, and 174 for Shane Hazel.
In the U.S. Senate Special Called Race, 4,965 cast their votes for Incumbent Kelly Loeffler, 3,531 cast their votes for Doug Collins, and 1,117 cast their votes for Raphael Warnock.
In the State Senate District 16 Race, 9,072 voted for Incumbent Marty Harbin and 1,359 for Cinquez Jester.
In the State House District 131 Race, 9,024 voted for Beth Camp and 1,349 for Chris Benton.
In the Concord vote on Sunday Sales of Alcohol by the Drink Special Election, 138 voted yes, and 49 voted no. The measure passed.
Thank you to our awesome workers in the Registrar's Office, our Elections Superintendent, and the poll workers for your hard work to make this election go smoothly!
Thank you to First Bank of Pike for sponsoring Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!
If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!
By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - The November Presidential Election is coming up. There are several ways that citizens can make their voices heard.
The first is to get educated on what is on the ballot. There are a number of candidates on the ballot as well as a "jungle primary" with 20 candidates running for federal office.
There are also two constitutional amendments and one statewide referendum.
Constitutional Amendments and Statewide Referendum
Voters are being asked to choose yes or no on three questions.
Constitutional Amendment 1: "Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to authorize the General Assembly to dedicate revenues derived from fees or taxes to the public purpose for which such fees or taxes were intended?" The explanation on the ballot reads as follows: "Authorizes dedication of fees and taxes to their intended purposes by general state law."
Constitutional Amendment 2: "Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to waive sovereign immunity and allow the people of Georgia to petition the superior court for relief from governmental acts done outside the scope of lawful authority or which violate the laws of this state, the Constitution of Georgia, or the Constitution of the United States?" The explanation on the ballot reads as follows: "Waives state and local sovereign immunity for violation of state laws, state and federal constitutions."
Statewide Referendum: "Shall the Act be approved which provides an exemption from advalorem taxes for all real property owned by a purely public charity, if such charity is exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code and such real property is held exclusively for the purpose of building or repairing single-family homes to be financed by such charity to individuals using loans that shall not bear interest?" The explanation on the ballot reads as follows: "Provides tax exemption for certain single-family homes owned by tax exempt charities."
The Georgia Secretary of State's Office offers an explanation of these items here: sos.ga.gov.
Jessica Szilagyi from All On Georgia offers an explanation of these items here: allongeorgia.com.
Click here to review the candidates prior to voting.
Absentee Ballots
First, absentee voting is ongoing at this time and will continue through the night of the election. Voters should drop their ballots into the mail at least one week prior to the election in order to give the ballots time to travel to the Atlanta processing and distribution center and back to Zebulon as current mail regulations require. [Note from the Editor: All mail in the state does this and has for a number of years.] Voters who are sheltering or cannot physically return the ballots can vote, sign, and seal their ballots before sending the ballot with a friend to be dropped off in the drop box if they would rather not send their ballots through the mail.
Voters can also bring their ballots to the Registrar’s Office between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. and hand it directly to a staff member in the Registrar’s Office, or voters can drop their completed absentee ballots into the secure Absentee Ballot Return Box outside of the Registrar’s Office in Zebulon.
Regular absentee ballots must be received in the mail by 5 p.m. on the night of the election.
Absentee ballots placed in the secure drop box will be collected at 7 p.m. on Election Night.
Military and overseas ballots have to be received by the Friday following Election Day.
For more information on absentee ballots, you can read, "BREAKING NEWS: Am I Automatically Getting an Absentee Ballot and Other Important Information for the November Election" by clicking here.
If you would like information on tracking your absentee ballot as it goes to the Pike County Board of Registrar's, you can click here to read "State Election Board Gives Unanimous Green Light to Online Absentee Ballot Portal."
Early Voting in Person and Election Day Voting
Advanced in Person (Early voting in person) began on Monday at the Registrar's Office (next to the Sheriff's Office in Zebulon) and will continue Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Friday, October 30. PLEASE NOTE: The Registrar’s Office will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but no voting will be allowed during the first hour of opening or the last hour of the day in order for the staff to complete required state paperwork pertaining to voting each day.
October 24 is the mandatory Saturday voting day with voting hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The final day of early voting will be on Friday, October 30. PLEASE NOTE:There will be NO voting on Monday, November 1.
Election Day will be on Tuesday, November 3. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voter identification is required in order to vote.
If there is an issue with voting on Election Day due to no ID on person, a problem with a mailing address, etc. voters can cast a provisional ballot on paper and walk through necessary steps prior to the deadline at noon on the following Friday.
What About A Runoff?
The earliest day for the Registrar’s Office to mail out an absentee ballot for the General Election Runoff for federal offices (aka the Jungle Primary for Senator Kelly Loeffler’s current US Senate seat) will be on November 18, 2020.
Advanced in Person (Early voting in person) will begin on December 14, 2020.
Election Day for the Federal Runoff (if needed) will be on January 5, 2021. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and voter identification will be required at the polls.
Closing
A record number of votes have been in cast in Georgia so far. Click here to read about it. This includes a large number of votes that have been cast in Pike County!
There are 14,232 registered voters in Pike County.
Click here to see a copy of the sample ballot.
Thank you to First Bank of Pike for sponsoring Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!
If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!