Polls open until 7 p.m. in Macon mayor, county commission runoff elections

Early voting for the Macon-Bibb County mayoral runoff election wrapped up on Friday with nearly 10,000 people casting their ballots in-person and nearly 10,000 absentee ballots received by the Board of Elections.

Mike Kaplan, chair of the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections, said typically around 3,000 people vote early, but 9,359 voters cast their ballots early for the Aug. 11 election.

“It’s a very passionate race, so people are voting,” he said. “Candidates are working hard to get their voters to the polls.”

As of Friday evening, the Board of Elections had received 9,607 absentee ballots, bringing the total number of ballots to 18,966, nearly half of the votes cast in the June 9 election.

In the June 9 election, a total of 40,120 votes were cast, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s website. 5,906 votes were advanced in-person ballots in the June 9 election, which had a much larger ballot with candidates running for seats in the U.S. Senate to the Bibb County Commission.

Macon mayoral candidates Lester Miller and Cliffard Whitby faced off in two public forums the week prior to the Aug. 11 election on 13WMAZ and WGXA, and the commissioner and Board of Education candidates participated in a forum hosted by Georgia Women (And Those Who Stand With Us) on July 20.

People still have a chance to cast their ballots Aug. 11 in the runoff election for Macon-Bibb County mayor, district 5 commissioner seat, district 7 commissioner seat and district 1 board of education member.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Aug. 11, and people can find their polling precinct by logging into mvp.sos.ga.gov.

Here are the candidates:

• Macon-Bibb County Mayor: Lester Miller and Cliffard Whitby

• Macon-Bibb County Commissioner District 5: Seth Clark and Carlton Kitchens

• Macon-Bibb County Commissioner District 7: Bill Howell and Bonnie H. Thompson

• Macon-Bibb County Board of Education District 1: Tera Edwards and Myrtice Champion Johnson

This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 11:24 AM.