Only About 20 Percent Of Watkinsville Voters Like To Cast Ballot

Only about one in five of Watkinsville’s 2,247 registered voters is likely to decide whether Chuck Garrett or Carolyn Maultsby holds Post 1 on City Council through the end of this year.

At the end of early voting on Friday, 296 voters had cast a ballot in the 14 days of early voting in the special election.

All seven of the voters who had requested an absentee ballot had returned that ballot.

The 303 cast ballots make up 13.5 percent of the city’s voters.

In the March 14 referendum on the Education Local Option Sales Tax, 175 of the 273 registered voters in the City Hall Precinct who voted cast a ballot did so in advanced early voting or via an absentee ballot.

Voters inside the boundaries of Watkinsville make up about 57 percent of the voters of the City Hall Precinct, and the suggestion is that turnout on Tuesday is likely to be light and final turnout for the election is not likely to go much above 475, or about 21 percent.

Only votes cast for Brian Brodrick will be counted in the mayoral election, since Peter Steckel officially has withdrawn from the race.

Voting will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday at City Hall.

For more on this story, please go to Oconee County Observations.