Early runoff voting starts today and will last all week.
The Board of Elections off Pio Nono Ave opened its doors at 8:30 a.m to jump start early runoff voting.
Both young and old dropped by to cast a ballot. Among them was 100-year-old Annie Wray, who has voted for what seems like a lifetime.
"Ever since I got old enough to vote and I don't know when that was or what day," says Wray.
And it was an equally important decision for 80-year-old James Smith Jr., a disabled veteran, to vote early despite an injured leg.
"Well, I have to eat and I have to go vote when it's time. If I put it off tomorrow, I might even feel worser you know," he says.
According to the Board of Elections Director, Elaine Carr, runoff voter turnout is known to be low. In 2008, there was about a 5-percent turnout compared to 2010 where that number almost quadrupled. But it's not an upward trend. For some, the reason to cast a ballot is simple.
"To make sure we got the right person in," says Smith.
"Because we want people who are going to take care of Macon, Ga," adds Wray.
Across Central Georgia, people will be voting on 18 different races. Here in Bibb County and several other counties there's the Senate District 26 Democratic race that pits Miriam Paris against David Lucas. Wray has been a longtime supporter of Lucas.
"Because they've been nice to me and to folks in Macon, Ga," says Wray.
It's what's on the ballot that brings out the vote.
Bibb County
voters will also decide three board of education races, delayed for three weeks
due to a lawsuit over district lines.
These are
the school board races. All candidates are Democrats.
District
1, Michael McKeever,incumbent Ella Carter, Brenda Sutton
District 2, Angel Davis Hopper, Alan Patrick Taylor, Thelma Dillard.
District 3, Merritt Johnson, incumbent Susan Sipe.
These
runoff races are on the Aug. 21 ballot in various counties:
Voters in
Crawford, Macon, Peach, Dooly and Taylor counties and most of Bibb County will
decide a Republican primary in the 2nd congressional district between Rick
Allen and John House. The winner will run against incumbent Sanford Bishop.
In Laurens,
Wheeler, Telfair and Treutlen counties, people will vote on another Republican
primary between Lee Anderson and a different candidate named Rick Allen. The
winner challenges incumbent John Barrow.
In Senate
District 26, Democrats David Lucas and incumbent Miriam Paris are in a runoff.
The district includes Hancock, Washington, Wilkinson, Twiggs and parts of
Jones, Bibb and Houston counties.
Other
runoffs:
House
District 139, Democrats, Thomas Coogle vs. Patty Bentley.
Baldwin
County Commission, District 2, Democrats, incumbent Linda Fussell vs, Tommy Lee
French.
Dooly
County Court Clerk, Democrats, Willie Mae Chaney vs. Betty Colter.
Hancock
County Court Clerk, Democrats, LeShauna Reid Jackson vs. Frances Hunt.
Washington
County State Court Judge, nonpartisan, John Dana vs. Arthur Walker.
Crawford
County Board of Education, District 3, incumbent Tim Johnson vs. Richard
Jacobs.
Johnson
County sheriff, Democrats, Rusty Oxford vs. Michael Morris.
Taylor
County Commission, District 1, Democrats, Cicero Latimore vs. Theodore Goss.
Telfair
County court magistrate, Democrats, incumbent Patsy Padgett vs. Bryan Selph.
Telfair
County commission, District 3, Troy Giddens vs. Wilson Bowen.
Wheeler
County Sheriff, Democrats, Maurice Johnson vs. Tyrone Gillis.
Wilkinson
Tax Commissioner, Democrats, Vanessa Fountain vs. Charles Gasaway.
Check
your local board of elections for polling places and hours.