With only five days of early voting remaining, traditionally Republican Oconee County is greatly outperforming traditionally Democratic Clarke County in ballots cast for the Dec. 9 House District 121 Special Election.
At the end of the day on Nov. 26, the final day of voting last week, 2,897 ballots had been cast in Oconee County, while only 567 had been cast in Clarke County.
Oconee County accounts for 63.5 percent of the registered voters in the 121st House District, but, at this point, it is accounting for 86.3 percent of the votes cast.
In 2024, when Democrat Eric Gisler ran against Marcus Wiedower, Gisler received 64.7 percent of the vote in Clarke County, but only 26.0 percent of the vote in Oconee County.
Wiedower, who stepped down on Oct. 28, necessitating the Dec. 9 Special Election, received 61.3 percent of the overall vote in 2024 to Gisler’s 38.9 percent, with Oconee County accounting for 75.1 percent of the ballots cast to 24.9 percent cast by Clarke County voters.
Gisler and Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest have qualified for the Dec. 9 Special Election.
Until now, early voting in Athens-Clarke County has been held only at the Elections Office, 155 East Washington Street, in downtown Athens, but during this final week early voting also will be held at the Tennis Center, 4460 Lexington Road.
In Oconee County, early voting will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day this week at the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
Early Voting Numbers
By the end of the day on Wednesday, 2,896 Oconee County voters had cast a ballot in Advance In Person voting, and another voter had returned a mail ballot, for the total of 2,897 votes cast.
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Early voting on Monday and Wednesday of last week was lower than on each of the days the previous week, except for the first day of voting and voting on Saturday.
Early voting in the first nine days (2,896) for the Nov. 9 special election is more than double the 1,267 votes cast in the first nine days of early voting for the Nov. 4 election. The counts in both cases are for voters in the three Oconee County precincts that are in House District 121, Central, South, and Dark Corner.
The Oconee County Election Office has issued only 25 Absentee By Mail ballots for the Dec. 9 Special Election. The Office issued 67 Absentee By Mail ballots in the Nov. 4 election and accepted 35 from voters in Central, South, and Dark Corner precincts.
In the Nov. 4 election, 48.2 percent of the votes cast were Advance In Person in the three precincts in the 121st, with 0.5 percent cast via Mail. Election Day voting made up 51.3 percent of the vote.
In Clarke County, 567 voters had cast a ballot Advance In Person by the end of the day on Nov. 26, and nine Absentee By Mail ballots had been received, for the total of 567 votes.
The Clarke County Election Office has issued 34 Absentee By Mail ballots.
The 121st House District in Clarke County includes all or part of 10 precincts, and early voting data for the Nov. 4 election are not publicly available broken down by House District. Clarke County is carved into four different House Districts.
Oconee County GOP Meeting
The Oconee County Republican Party is holding a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday (Dec. 1) at Piedmont Oconee Health Campus, Lobby Meeting Room, 1305 Jennings Mill Road.
Guest speakers are House District 120 State Representative Houston Gaines, who is running for the 10th Congressional District seat, and Chad Paton, who is running to replace Gaines.
Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King, who is running for re-election, also is scheduled to speak.
Michael Broun, who is running for the party nomination for State Senate District 46, also is invited to speak.
Oconee County falls entirely within Senate District 46, currently represented by Bill Cowsert, who is running for Attorney General.
Oconee County’s Northeast Precinct is in the 120 House District, as are parts of Clarke, Barrow, and Jackson counties.
Gaines and Cowsert plan to serve in the 2026 General Assembly, which will end before the May party primaries.
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