Some counties, including White, limiting precincts for PSC runoff

White County is one of several counties statewide expected to limit the number of open polling precincts for the July 15 Democratic Public Service Commission primary runoff.

According to White County Election Supervisor Amie Veater, voters may cast their ballots at the Mt. Yonah Precinct at The Bridge Church on Hulsey Road in Cleveland.

No other polling locations will be open.

This limited polling setup is allowed under state election code, which permits a single voting location in a runoff if less than 1% of a party’s registered voters participated in the primary. In White County, only 0.59% of the county’s 24,355 registered voters cast a Democratic ballot in the July 17 primary.

President of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, Travis Doss, said Friday that as many as 20 counties are considering that option.

RELATED Running a low-turnout Georgia runoff election could cost $100 per vote 

Costly runoff

Former state legislator and Atlanta City Councilmember Keisha Waites is in a runoff with green energy activist Peter Hubbard of Atlanta. Waites came in first in a three-person race on June 17, but failed to get more than 50% of the vote, forcing a runoff.

Statewide turnout for the June 17 primary reached just 2.8% of Georgia’s 7.4 million active registered voters. However, the Democratic runoff might struggle to reach even 1% turnout across the state. And counties could spend $10 million statewide to hold the election, based on a sampling of some county spending, according to AP.

That could be more than $100 per vote.

Habersham County and other local election offices are still compiling their plans for the July 17 runoff.

“We will begin as soon as possible, but it will depend on when we get our election project from the SOS (Secretary of State) and get L&A (Logic & Accuracy) testing done,” Habersham County Elections Supervisor Laurel Ellison told Now Habersham. She said the county will advertise the dates for advance voting “as soon as we know.”

Ellison said the county’s two main precincts – North and South – will be open for advance voting. “And we will be open at all four of our precincts on Election Day.”

Dean Dyer of WRWH Radio contributed to this report

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Running a low-turnout Georgia runoff election could cost $100 per vote