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PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. DECEMBER 22. 2016
Elections supervisor blames bad timing for dismally low voter turnout
District 54 Senate seat to be decided in January 10 runoff
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Just 168 of the 6,672 ac
tive registered Pickens
County voters in Georgia
State Senate District 54 cast
votes in the special election
last Tuesday, Dec. 13th, a
dismal 2.52 % turnout.
Pickens County Elections
Supervisor Julianne Roberts
said the election’s timing was
terrible, and that it was
planned quickly when Gov.
Nathan Deal appointed Sen.
Charlie Bethel (R-Dalton) to
the State Court of Appeals
judgeship just weeks after he
was reelected to the senate in
November.
“The problem wasn’t the
race; it was such bad timing,”
Roberts said. “It was the only
race on the ballot and this
time of year I think a lot of
people are getting ready for
holidays. I mean, it’s just a
few days from Christmas. On
our Saturday voting day we
had two people come in. I
think [the state] wanted to go
ahead and have the election
so they would have someone
in office when session starts
in January.”
The actual number of eli
gible voters in Pickens for the
special election was about
7,800, but the elections office
is not allowed to report “in
active” voters who have not
voted in several years.
“It’s not an accurate pic
ture, but they do that to make
the percentage higher,”
Roberts said.
Five candidates vied for
the position with Republican
Chuck Payne and non-parti
san Debby Peppers, both
from Dalton, headed to a
runoff on Tuesday, Jan. 10.
Statewide, Payne took 36
percent of the vote Tuesday
night. Peppers took 27 per
cent. Other candidates in
cluded Conda Goodson,
Shell Underwood, and Billy
Vinyard.
Pickens County’s results
were: Goodson, 56 votes
(33.73 %); Payne, 51 (30.72
%); Peppers, 32 (19.28 %);
Underwood, 22 (13.25 %);
and Vinyard, 5(3.01 %).
Early voting for the spe
cial election runoff will be
Tuesday, Dec. 27 through
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District
Pickens
District
Pickens County is divided into two Georgia State Senate
Districts. The local elections supervisor said this can cause
confusion among voters. Only the half in purple is voting
in the runoff election underway.
Friday, Dec. 30. and Tuesday,
Jan. 3 through Friday Jan. 6
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Voters
will go to their regular
polling places on Monday,
Jan. 10 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Does split district
confuse voters?
Georgia State Senate Dis
trict 54 covers western Pick
ens County and a portion of
Gordon County, and all of
Whitfield and Murray coun
ties. The rest of Pickens is in
District 51, which is cur
rently represented by Sen.
Steve Gooch.
Pickens’ elections super
visor said voters get confhsed
because the county is split
into two senate districts. The
local elections office had al
most as many voters from
District 51 to try to vote in
the special election last week.
“We had to turn them
away and some thought we
were trying to keep them
from voting,” she said, “ but
we had to explain they
weren’t able to vote in this
election at all.”
Roberts said the county
was split back in 2001 when
she first came on board at the
elections office, but soon
after changed and was repre
sented by the same senator
and congressman.
“And that worked out
great, but then in 2011 we
changed back to being split
and it confuses voters,” she
said. “I personally don’t
think we are large enough to
be split like that.”
Pickens is still represented
entirely with one house dis
trict, District 11. Rep. Rick
Jasperse is the current office
holder in that district.
A snowy day at Jasper Elementary
Submitted by JES
First grade students at
Jasper Elementary School
had a wonderful time playing
in the snow on Friday morn
ing before the holiday break.
How were they able to be in
the snow you might ask?
Thanks to the generosity of
Kerri, Brian, and Mya Dow-
land (and their snow ma
chine), the children were able
to end their unit about snow
by experiencing it firsthand.
Earlier in the week, the
students read the book A
Snowy Day by Ezra Jack
Keats and then wrote stories
about snowmen, snowball
fights, and other cold weather
fun. To surprise the children,
the Dowlands spent the previ
ous night transforming the
courtyard at JES into a winter
wonderland where the first
graders were able to have
their very own “snowy day.”
It was a very special way
to begin our holiday festivi
ties and we are all very thank
ful to the Dowlands for
giving us snowloads of fun.
Jasper Elementary students ended the semester with real snow, thanks to a local family
and their snow machine.