Before the elections office closed for its two-day Christmas break plus the weekend, more than 10,800 Bulloch County voters had cast early ballots toward the Jan. 5 runoff for two U.S. Senate seats and a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Bulloch’s cumulative total of early in-person voters was 6,596 as of the close of business at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Meanwhile, 4,201 mailed-out paper absentee ballots had been returned by voters and checked in, as had 20 ballots issued electronically and returned by mail from military and other U.S. residents overseas, reported Bulloch County Deputy Registrar Shontay Jones.

Four more days

Now, the Bulloch County Board of Elections area in the County Annex, 113 North Main St., Statesboro, will be open four more days, Monday through Thursday of next week, Dec. 28-31, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for in-person early voting. Meanwhile, absentee ballots can be mailed out if requested by Dec. 31, but no later, and must be counted if returned to the elections office or one of its drop boxes by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Jan. 5. Military and overseas ballots are actually counted if they arrive by the Friday after Election Day.

Since there are only three, two-candidate races on the ballot, voters have been completing the process faster than they did for the more complicated November general election. As a result, no long lines have formed, but the daily flow – averaging more than 600 voters a day at the County Annex – has been about as great.

“From all the commercials that people are overloaded with I think they pretty much know who’s on the ballot, obviously … so it’s not taking a considerable amount of time,” Jones said. “Coming from November we were used to people standing in line, and now they’re going through so quick and  leaving that sometimes we’re  amazed that we’ve done so many in a day.”

Roughly 620 voters cast electronic ballots on the machines at the annex Wednesday. The busiest day at the annex alone was Dec. 14, the first day of early voting, when 842 people cast electronic ballots there. The busiest overall day was the second day, Dec. 15, when both the annex and the Honey Bowen Building were available and 993 people voted.

The Honey Bowen Building was offered as an early voting site just three days, Dec. 15-17. Since then, only the County Annex has been open for early voting. The lowest-volume day was the only Saturday for in-person voting, Dec. 19, when 308 ballots were cast.

Historic levels

With the completed ballot count approaching 11,000, the current early and absentee voting already rivals the total number of votes cast in Bulloch County the last time Georgia had a general election runoff for a U.S. Senate seat. That was in November 2008, when 11,405 Bulloch voters participated in the runoff that then-Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Republican, won over a Democratic challenger, former state Rep. Jim Martin.

Turnout for the Jan. 5, 2021, runoff has already surpassed 20%, with early and absentee opportunities still remaining. As of the Nov. 3 general election, Bulloch County had 44,738 registered voters. But the turnout then was 67.6%, and well over half of the county’s 30,229 voters in that election used early or absentee voting.

Through Wednesday, 2,140 mailed and 69 electronic military and overseas U.S. citizen ballots had been issued from Bulloch County but not yet returned. Again, Monday through Thursday, Dec. 28-31, remain available for in-person voting at the annex, and absentee ballots can also be requested through Thursday, but not after.

Drop boxes remain

The two drop boxes will remain available until the close of polls at 7 p.m. Jan. 5 for returned of completed absentee ballots.

The indoor drop box is locked down on a table inside the back entrance of the Bulloch County Annex in the elections office area, 113 N. Main. St. This box is available 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The red, white and blue freestanding outdoor drop box is in the parking area of the same complex, but behind the North Main Annex, 115 N. Main St., near the cell tower. This box is available for deposit of ballots 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It is secured to the concrete slab, and both drop boxes are under continuous video surveillance. Georgia law limits who may “possess or deliver” a voter’s ballot. Besides the voter, persons allowed to do this include the voter’s parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, spouse, son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, an individual who resides in the same household with the voter or the caretaker, as defined by law, of a voter with disabilities.

Election Day

Bulloch County registered voters who do not take advantage of early or absentee voting can vote at their assigned place in the county’s 16 traditional voting precincts Tuesday, Jan. 5, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

On the ballot

The runoff between Republican incumbent David Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff is for a full six-year term in the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, Republican appointed incumbent Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock are in a runoff to complete the remainder of what was originally U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term, through 2022, since he retired at the end of 2019.

While those races continue to draw national attention, Georgians are also deciding a lesser-known contest between Republican Lauren “Bubba” McDonald Jr. and Democrat Daniel Blackman for the seat McDonald holds on the state Public Service Commission.