VALDOSTA — Tuesday, November 5, 2019, proved challenging for the Lowndes County Board of Elections, Lowndes County voters, and other pilot cities throughout Georgia using the new voting system.
While voters began hitting the polls early Tuesday and the new system seemed seamless, problems did arise.
With a new paper ballot printed out upon request at each voter’s station, the extra steps involved were not notably time consuming. After printing out the paper ballot and reviewing selections, you then took it to a large black sealed storage container and fed your ballot into the top via a roller.
The extra measure of having the paper ballot presumably paid off, considering that the memory cards on the computerized systems became problematic.
Other issues during the morning caused voting cut-off time to be extended from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“In case anyone couldn’t vote during that period, we extended the cut off to give everyone an opportunity to come back,” Lowndes County Board of Elections Director Deb Cox said. “I think there were 27 people who voted on paper ballots, but 12 left and we gave them the opportunity to come back. I don’t know if they did, but they could if they wanted to.”
The paper ballots allowed for tallying votes which otherwise could’ve taken until Wednesday to calculate.
Lowndes County is one of six counties testing the new voting technology and three other counties also had issues with the new system.
As it stands Wednesday morning, there will be a runoff for the position of City of Valdosta Mayor between J.D. Rice and Scott James Matheson.
“The runoff is self-evident for mayor,” Cox said, adding that the final votes for all positions will be counted on Friday.
“We did surveys and the public really liked the new system,” Cox said.
As it stands J.D. Rice took 34.51%/2,172 votes, and Scott James Matheson 24.91%/1,568. Since neither had over 50% of the vote a runoff is necessary. David Sumner came in behind Matheson with 21.89%/1,378 votes, and Kevin J. Bussey had 17.11%/1,077 votes. Brooke D. Bivins, who was rarely visible at any campaigning platforms, still pulled in 1.57%/99 votes.
These results are not yet official as absentee and provisional ballots have not been counted, but Cox said these are not expected to make much of a difference in the final tally.
Outside of the mayoral race, the position for Valdosta City Council District 3 will continue to be filled by incumbent Sonny Vickers, who took 65.11%/446 votes, while his opposition, Thomas B. McIntyre, Sr. grabbed 34.89%/239 votes.
Unopposed Vivian Miller-Cody received 100% for Valdosta City Council District 1, as did Tim Carroll in District 5 with 100%/1719 votes.
For Valdosta City Council At-Large, Incumbent Ben Norton took the lead with 45.95%/2,774 votes, trailed by neck-and-neckers Adrian Rivers with 22.08%/1,333 votes and Edgar Nicky Tooley with 21.85%/1,319. Jeremy Stone had 10.12%/611 votes.
For seats on the Valdosta School District board, incumbent Liz Shumpard ran unopposed, while District 2 incumbent Kelisa V. Brown maintained her position with 58.84%/426 votes, while opponent David A. Gilyard performed well with 41.16%/298 votes. Warren Sweet Lee maintained his District 3 seat running unopposed.
Lowndes County voters passed the Valdosta Brunch Bill Referendum with 60.94%/3,807 votes.
Voters also voted in SPLOST VIII Referendum with 68.82%/5,794 votes.
