14 contested races on Hall ballots Tuesday

UNDATED - Fourteen contested races will be voted on Tuesday in Hall County in the General Election primaries.

Eight of them will be for local offices, although not every race will appear on each ballot, because of by-district voting for some offices.

The other contested races on the Hall County ballots will be statewide contests for U.S. Senate, Public Service Commission, and judgeships.

Several of the local races will be decided, once and for all Tuesday, barring a successful write-in campaign this fall, because there will be no General Election opposition in November.

GEORGIA VOTER 101

Voters statewide are being urged to choose their ballots carefully in Tuesday's primary elections.

Unlike many states, voters in Georgia do not register as members of a particular party and may select either a Democratic or Republican ballot in each primary.

Secretary of State Cathy Cox said a common mistake happens when someone asks for nonpartisan ballots because they consider themselves politically independent.

The result? A short slate of judges' races instead of the contests for U.S. Senate, Congress, other state races, and any local contests.

Some changes also have been made since the March presidential preference primaries.

During that election - which included a vote on the state flag - some voters said they got the wrong ballot because both the Democratic and flag vote ballots were white. Those who accidentally filled out the flag-only form were not allowed to vote in the primary.

On Tuesday, Democratic, Republican and nonpartisan forms will be three different colors to help prevent poll worker mistakes.

NEW HALL POLLING PLACES

Hall County Director of Elections Anne Phillips said voter turnout in the county Tuesday could be as high as 40 percent.

Phillips has always based her estimates on absentee voting, but now has to consider early voting, which ended Friday, as well. There was strong interest most of the week in early voting, which allows voters to cast their ballots during the week before an election.

Phillips predicts a 35-40 percent turnout Tuesday. Hall County has 66,752 eligible voters for the primaries. The county's growing Hispanic population accounts for 889 of that number.

There will be three ballots to choose from: Non-Partisan, Democratic, and Republican. The Non-Partisan ballot contains only judicial races. Those candidates are also listed on the other two ballots.

Phillips said since the March presidential primaries, the last countywide elections, she's had to move the Gillsville polling place to the Pine Grove Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, which is at 6079 Highway 52, and the Big Hickory precinct has been moved to the fellowship hall at Corinth Baptist Church at the corner of Thompson Bridge Road and Mount Vernon Road.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)