Low turnout for Catoosa County primary runoff early voting

RINGGOLD, Ga. (WDEF) – Tuesday is the runoff elections for local and state primaries in Georgia.

We have been closely following the races in Catoosa County in the wake of an attempt by the Catoosa County Republican Party to remove four candidates off of their primary ballots.

Tomorrow, three of them will be on the ballot.

Larry Black and Steven Henry face off for the Commission Chairman seat while Vanita Hullander faces Richard Tharpe for the District 3 commission seat.

Despite the controversy, early voting numbers from last week are lower than previous similar elections as only about 2,700 votes have been cast so far.

The comparable 2020 primary runoff had a final tally of over 6,800 votes, meaning nearly four thousand voters need to show up tomorrow to reach the same number.

Catoosa County public information officer John Pless said, “Overall, when you think that we have over 45,000 active registered voters, it’s pretty low turnout overall that basically says that over 80 percent of people who are registered to vote did not vote.”

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Remember to report to your assigned precinct and have an identification.