The final day of early voting on Friday for the Dec. 9 House District 121 Special Election between Democrat Eric Gisler and Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest IV saw 665 Oconee County voters cast a ballot, the largest number of voters to turn out in the 14 days of early voting.
A total of 5,172 voters cast a ballot in Advance In Person voting and another 23 voted Absentee By Mail by the end of the day on Friday, meaning that 19.2 percent of the eligible voters in the county have cast a ballot going into Election Day on Tuesday.
At the end of 16 days of early voting for the Nov. 4 election, 11.7 percent of the voters in the three Oconee County precincts that fall into the 121st House District had cast a ballot in person or via mail ballot.
In that election, 51.2 percent of voters in the three precincts in the 121st House District cast a ballot on election day itself, and final turnout was 24.0 percent of eligible voters.
If that pattern holds, turnout for the Dec. 9 special election in the county will exceed 38 percent.
Turnout in the 10 precincts in Clarke County that fall wholly or partially into the 121st House District picked up in the final week of In Advance In Person voting, but by the end of early voting on Friday only 11.2 percent of the eligible voters in Clarke County had cast a ballot.
At this point, 75.0 percent of the votes in Advance In Person and Mail voting have been cast by Oconee County voters, though Oconee County voters make up only 63.5 percent of the eligible voters in the House District.
In November of 2024, 75.1 percent of the votes cast in the 121st House District race between Republican Marcus Wiedower and Democrat Gisler were cast by Oconee County voters, and Wiedower won that election with 61.1 percent of the vote overall.
Voting Trends
The final day of voting in Oconee County had 241 more voters cast a ballot than had cast a ballot on the previous high turnout day on Wednesday.
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More than 400 voters cast a ballot each of the last four day of early voting, held at the County Administrative Building.
Turnout in Oconee County was highest in South Precinct (23.8 percent), followed by Central (20.6 percent), and Dark Corner (9.6 percent).
The Oconee County Elections and Registration Office has issued 32 Absentee By Mail ballots. By the end of the day on Friday, 23 of those had been returned.
Voting on Tuesday will be at the precinct polling places: Oconee Central, Oconee County Civic Center; Oconee South, Poplar Springs Baptist Church; and Dark Corner, Bethabara Baptist Church.
Clarke County also saw an increase in voting in the final five days of voting, when, for the first time, early voting was held at the Tennis Center, 4460 Lexington Road.
Prior to Nov. 1, early voting in Athens-Clarke County has been held only at the Elections Office, 155 East Washington Street, in downtown Athens, where parking was limited.
The Clarke County Election Office has issued 34 Absentee By Mail ballots, 25 of which have been returned by the end of the day on Friday.
Turnout Election
The Democratic and Republican parties are engaged in intense get-out-the vote efforts in the final days before voting on Tuesday.
War Room Strategies is coordinating the canvassing and voter contact for Guest.
Gisler’s effort is being coordinated by volunteers.
The two candidates have not appeared together in any forum, though they met separately with the leadership of the Oconee County Farm Bureau on Tuesday evening. The event was not open to the public.
Chris Dowd video interviewed Gisler for his Athens Political Nerd blog, and reported that Guest did not respond to repeated interview requests.
Each candidate has a web site.
Gisler lists his position on some issues on his site.
Guest lists four “priorities” on his site.
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