Cherokee TV

Democratic Senate Runoff is August 5

Tom Brooks
Sunday, August 03, 2008

A low turnout is anticipated in Cherokee County for the August 5 runoff election between Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Vernon Jones and Jim Martin.

Polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Jones, the DeKalb County CEO, and Martin, a former state legislator of Atlanta, are vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who is seeking his second six-year term in the U.S. Senate, in the November 4 general election.

The Democratic contest is the only race on the August 5 runoff ballots in Cherokee County.

Under Georgia elections law, registered voters who pulled Democratic ballots in the July 15 primary or didn’t vote in the primary may cast ballots in the runoff, but voters who cast Republican July 15 ballots aren’t allowed to vote in the Democratic runoff.

Jones outpolled Martin in the statewide general primary race in a five-candidate field, receiving 199,029 votes, or 40.4 percent, to Martin’s 169,640 votes, or 34.4 percent. The Georgia Secretary of State office reported 493,243 votes in the July 15 Democratic Senate contest.

Candidates are required to receive plurality of the vote to win a race.

In Cherokee County, a Republican stronghold, there were 2,014 votes in the July 15 Democratic Senate contest out of the county's 16,655 total.

Martin received almost 40.2 percent of the Cherokee vote and Dale Cardwell, a former Atlanta TV news reporter, got almost 26.9 percent for No. 2 in the county. Jones garnered 17.3 percent in Cherokee for No. 3.

Absentee ballots must be received by the county elections office by the end of business on Election Day, officials say.

Information on the August 5 primary runoff is posted on the Cherokee County Elections & Voter Registration Office’s Web site at http://voter.cherokeega.com. To reach the office by phone, call (770) 479-0407.