Early Voting for Runoff Ends at 5 p.m.

Those hoping to get their votes in before Tuesday’s election day for the primary runoffs have until the end of this business day to cast their ballot.

Today is the last day for early and advance voting, and those who don’t make it to the polls by the end of the day will have to find time on Tuesday if they wish to make their votes count in the races in a runoff. The polls at the office in the Watson Government Complex in Dallas will close at 5 p.m.

All Paulding County polling precincts will be open on Aug. 21 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters eligible to cast ballots in the runoff will have to visit their usual polling place to vote.

Only those county voters who cast Republican or nonpartisan ballots in the July primary, or those who did not vote at all in the primary, are eligible to vote, whether in early and advance voting or on Tuesday’s election day.

Three offices that impact Paulding County will be decided by runoffs. They 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 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.

Return to Dallas-Hiram Patch on Tuesday for live results of the races.

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