Early Voting for Runoff Begins Today

Several candidates’ campaign signs are set to dot the Paulding landscape for a few more days.

While last month’s primary election or coasting to reelection after running unopposed, a few races remained unsettled once all the votes were counted—, supervisor of .

are three races that impact Paulding County, and voters have the opportunity to head to the polls to decide those races on Aug. 21, the official runoff election day. But those aiming to get their votes out of the way may take part in early and advance voting beginning today and running through Friday at the .

No other polling places will be open this week, but voters will have from 8 a.m. to at least 5 p.m. each day to cast their ballots; voting hours are extended to 7 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.

The three offices impacted by runoffs are:

• Paulding County’s chief magistrate. Incumbent Martin Valbuena was favored by 47.1 percent of those who voted in the July 31 primary. His opponent is Dan Collins, the top vote-getter among three men who challenged Valbuena. (See videos of the chief magistrate candidates and .)
• State Senate District 31. State Sen. Bill Heath will again square off against Bill Carruth. Voters in Paulding, Haralson and Polk counties gave more favor to Heath, but his 45.3-percent share of the vote was not enough to stave off the runoff against Carruth, who earned 41.1 percent of votes.
• State House District 66. The new district includes only one Paulding precinct, and more than half of the voters who came out to that polling place favored Bob Snelling. But Snelling overall had 49.6 percent of the vote; his two opponents, Michael “Mike” Miller and Mickey Thompson, took 27.2 and 23.2 percent, respectively. Miller’s second-place finish put him in the runoff with Snelling. (See video of all three candidates and .)

All Paulding County polling precincts will be open on Aug. 21. All county voters will see the chief magistrate race on their ballots, but only those in the legislative districts under a runoff will cast ballots in those races. To be able to vote in these elections, county voters must have cast Republican or nonpartisan ballots in the primary, as all three races are part of the GOP primary.

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