Early voting for the May 21 general primary is underway in Liberty and Long counties.
Early voting in Liberty County will be held through May 17, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Historic Courthouse, 100 Main St. in Hinesville, and the Liberty County East End Complex 9397 E. Oglethorpe Highway in Midway.
There also will be two Saturday early voting opportunities – May 4 and May 11 – at the Historic Courthouse and the East End Complex from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. each day.
As of Thursday, 1,291 ballots have been cast in early voting.
Voters will choose which party primary to vote in. On the Republican side, voters will choose between incumbent Ben Watson and challenger Beth Majeroni for the 1st District Senate seat and between Timmy Blout and Kevin Remillard for the Republican nomination for the Liberty County Commissioners’ 4th District seat.
Michael Navarro is running unopposed for the Republican nomination for the commission chairman seat and Gary Eason is running unopposed for the Republican nomination for sheriff.
On the Democrat side, voters will choose between incumbent Donald Lovette and challenger Chassidy Oliveira for the county commission chairman seat nomination. They also will choose from among incumbent Will Bowman and challengers Kevin Hofkin, Keith Jenkins and Gary Richardson to face Eason in November for sheriff.
A handful of races will be decided in the May Democrat primary. Kim McGlothlin and Jamie Sharp are running for the open tax commissioner seat and incumbent Michael McGirt Jr. and Malcolm Williams are facing off for chief magistrate.
Incumbent Eddie Walden is being challenged for his county commission District 6 seat by McKesson Stafford and Al Williams faces a primary challenge from Henry Covington for this state House District 168 post.
Maxie Jones IV does not face opposition in the primary for his county commission District 4 seat.
Several races also have no opposition – Probate Judge Nancy Aspinwall, Liberty County Clerk of Court Linda Dixon Thompson, Coroner Reggie Pierce and State Court Judge candidate Leonard Grinstead have no opposition.
Also, all three Board of Education seats up for election this – Districts 1, 2, and 3, held respectively by Lavonia Lecounte, Marcus Scott IV and Carol Guyett – drew no opposition. School board races are nonpartisan in nature.
Atlantic Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judges Paul Rose and Richard Russell also have no opposition.
Across the state, only one of the seats on the Georgia Supreme Court is being contested. Sitting Justice Andrew Pinson faces a challenge from former Congressman John Barrow.
Voters in Long County will cast their early ballots at 75 Academy St. in Ludowici.
Long County voters in the Republican primary will choose between incumbent Craig Nobles and challenger Octaviano Figueroa for the nomination for sheriff, Clifton Deloach and incumbent Jeremy Hall for county commission District 4 and between incumbent Robert Parker and challenger Emma Strickland for District 5.
Nickey Anderson does not face any opposition for coroner, and incumbent Sherry Long does not face any opposition for clerk of superior court. State Court judge Jeff Arnold and tax commissioner Becky Fowler also do not face any opposition.
Several school board races are being contested. Charles Duncan and Teresa Johnson are squaring off in the May nonpartisan primary for the District 1 seat. Bruce Deloach is being challenged for his District 2 seat by Phillip Davis, Synita Mathis faces a challenge from Melissa Craft for her District 3 seat, three people – Patricia Austin, Linda Deloach and Pablo Perez – are running for District 4, and District 5 incumbent Bryan Wingate faces a challenge from Julie Norman Dawson.
Incumbent probate judge Teresa Odum faces a challenge from Bobby Smith for her seat.
Republican Gerald Blocker and Democrat David Richardson face no opposition in their respective primaries for Blocker’s District 1 county commission seat and will face each other in November. Democrat sheriff candidate Rondy Bacon also faces no opposition in the May primary.