71.9% of Ware’s eligible voters cast ballots in General Election for 7.1% hike over 2020
The Waycross City Commission will have to wait a few more weeks before it has its fifth and final member.
The race for the vacant District 1 seat is going to a runoff after none of the three candidates received more than 50 percent of the vote in the General Election Tuesday, November 5.
Shawn Roberts and Jene´Walker will go to a runoff to decide the District 1 seat on the Waycross City Commission, according to vote totals from Tuesday’s General Election. The vote was certified as official by the Ware County Board of Elections Friday, November 8, said Supervisor Carlos Nelson.
Roberts received 322 votes (40.5 percent) to 239 (30.06 percent) for Walker to force the runoff since neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the 795 votes cast.
Willie Oliver totaled 232 votes (29.18 percent) to finish third. Roberts polled 274 votes during the early period to 201 for Walker and 182 for Oliver.
“While I’m disappointed that I didn’t receive 51 percent of the vote, I’m grateful to those who supported me,” Roberts said. “You showed up for me then, and I humbly ask that you show up again.”
Walker
Roberts
Said Walker: “I’m truly grateful to all the residents in our great district who voted for me. Do not lose momentum! I need each one of you to vote for me again — absentee ballot, early voting, and in the run-off election. Even if you didn’t vote at all in the last election, you can still vote in the December 3 runoff election. Your vote really matters.”
The runoff will be Tuesday, December 3. Early voting for the race will be held Monday-Wednesday, November 25-27, Nelson said.
That voting will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the board of elections office, 408 Tebeau Street. Voting on the day of the runoff will be at the Ware County Board of Education offices, 1301 Bailey Street.
A total of 62.4 percent of the district’s 1,444 eligible voters cast ballots in the special election for the seat formerly held by the late Norman E. Davis, who died in April.
The District 1 voting, the only contested local race on the ballot, was part of an impressive 71.95 percent turnout from 14,489 of the county’s 20,137 registered voters. There were 9,975 votes in advance, 792 by absentee and 3,722 Tuesday, November 5.
By comparison, turnout for the 2020 General Election was 64.8 percent, or 14,253 of 21,994 registered voters.
In the 2024 Presidential race, former President Donald Trump carried Ware County with 10,729 votes (71.12 percent) to 4,068 (28.14 percent) for Vice President Kamala Harris.
All other entries on the ballot were uncontested, including those for two seats on the Ware County Commission as well as for a handful of other county offices.
Ware County voters were split on the two proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. They backed the first 8,368-4,909, but rejected the second 6,918-6,395.
