In the first day of advance voting for the Dec. 9 House District 121 Special Election, 212 Oconee County voters cast a ballot.
Only voters who live in the Central, South, and Dark Corner precincts of the county are eligible to vote, and the 212 voters casting a ballot on Monday compare with the 144 voters in those three precincts who cast a ballot on Oct. 14, the first day of early voting for the Nov. 4 election.
A total of 159 voters in all four precincts in the county cast a ballot in that first day of early voting on Oct. 14.
The 212 voters who cast a ballot on Monday make up just 0.78 percent of the 27,045 those eligible to vote.
The 144 voters who cast a ballot on the first day of early voting for the Nov. 4 election made up 0.52 percent of those eligible to vote in that election,
That Nov. 4 ballot included two statewide Public Service Commission races, the countywide Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum, and local races in Bishop and Watkinsville.
Only the names of Eric Gisler, Democrat, and Mack “Dutch” Guest IV, Republican, appear on the ballot for the Nov. 9 Special Election.
Marcus Wiedower, a Republican, announced on the morning of Oct. 28 that he was stepping down from the legislature, citing new demands of his job in real estate development as the reason.
Gov. Brian Kemp called the special election on Oct. 30.
The 121st House District consists of the Central, South, and Dark Corner precincts in Oconee County and all or part of 10 precincts in Athens-Clarke County, with Oconee County accounting for 63.4 percent of the registered voters.
As of this posting, Clarke County has not reported the number of votes cast on Monday.
Early Voting Continues
Gisler, who already had declared his intent to challenge Wiedower in next year’s election, qualified on Nov. 7 for the Special Election, which does not include a primary.
Gisler ran unsuccessfully against Wiedower in 2024.
Guest, in his first political race, also qualified on Nov. 7.
Gisler is a product manager with insurance technology startup Assurified and owner of the retail store Olive Basket in Epps Bridge Centre.
Guest is vice president of LAD Truck Lines, a logistics company with warehouses and operations space on Barnett Shoals Road in Watkinsville abutting Wire Park.
Mack Guest III founded the company more than 25 years ago.
Early voting is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. the remainder of this week, with voting from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Early voting continues from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday of the Thanksgiving week (Nov. 24 to Nov. 26) and then again from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 1 to Dec. 5.
That totals 14 days of early voting for the Dec. 9 Special Election, compared with 16 days for the Nov. 4 election.
Early voting is at the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
Other Details Of Day 1 Early Voting
In Monday’s voting, 164 of the ballots were cast by voters in the Central Precinct, 32 by voters in the South Precinct, and 16 by voters in the Dark Corner Precinct.
In Day One voting for the Nov. 4 election, 110 were cast by voters in the Central Precinct, eight by voters in the South Precinct, and 26 by voters in the Dark Corner Precinct.
In that Nov. 5 election, the two Republican candidates, Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson, ultimately received 55.8 and 55.2 percent of the vote respectively in the Central Precinct, 63.0 and 61.7 percent of the vote in the South Precinct, and 69.7 and 69.5 percent of the vote in the Dark Corner Precinct.
In short, in Day 1 voting, more of the vote came from less Republican precincts.
The turnout rate was 0.87 percent in Central and South precincts and 0.36 percent in Dark Corner, where the Republican candidates did better on Nov. 4.
Turnout is likely to be low for the special election, and these first impressions easily can be changed as voting continues.
The county had issued 12 absentee ballots as of Monday. None had been returned.
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