Citizens wanting to vote in Georgia’s May 21 general primary and nonpartisan general election who aren’t registered, haven’t voted in several election years or have moved or changed their names have until Monday, April 22 to register to vote or update their registration.

In Bulloch County, this election brings countywide races for sheriff and for Board of Commissioners chairman and Bulloch’s part in the four-county contest for Ogeechee Judicial Circuit district attorney. All three of those contests will appear exclusively on the Republican Party ballot, since all of the candidates are Republicans. There is also the first stage of a countywide, two-party (two Democrats and one Republican) race for county coroner. Voters in various districts of the county will be deciding contests for three county commission seats and two Board of Education seats.

Local voters can register or update their information in-person during regular business hours at the Bulloch County Board of Elections and Registration office in the County Annex, 113 N. Main St., Suite 201, Statesboro. Voters and would-be voters can check their registration, and also register to vote or update their registration, online at the statewide My Voter Page, https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/ , explains Bulloch County Election Supervisor Shontay Jones.

“The My Voter Page is for the voter that’s registered, but say for instance, a person searches it who’s not registered, it should instruct you to call your local county-of-residence registrar’s office,” she said. “If a person is registered, when they put in what’s requested – first initial, last name, date of birth and the county they believe they’re registered in – when the system successfully finds you, it opens up that information.”

Registered voters can then update their information within the  My Voter Page. If your registration isn’t found, the system may direct you to an online registration application, but Jones notes that to use this  a voter  needs a Georgia driver’s  license or Georgia voter I.D. card, in order to enter the I.D. number. For other forms of identification, a would-be voter may need to print out the complete form and bring it with and their I.D.  to the local election office.

Of course, the elections office also has registration forms, and voters can call the office at for information. In Bulloch County, the number is (912) 764-6502.

Otherwise, who needs to update their voter registration?

“A voter who has  changed their  name or who has  moved within the county or from another county, these are changes  that  a voter would need to have updated,” Jones said. “Sometimes people don’t realize they’ve registered with our office with a P.O. box and they are no longer using that P.O. box. Well, if that’s the mailing address that  we  have on file, that’s where we’re going to be sending  information.”

Early voting starts April 29

For the May 21 general (Democratic and Republican)  primary and nonpartisan general election, the three weeks of in-person early voting will begin Monday, April 29, and end Friday, May 17, extending 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, plus 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on two Saturdays, May 4 and May 11.

The Elections Office at the County Annex, again, 113 N. Main St., will be the only place for early voting during this election, Jones said Friday. The Honey Bowen Building and a location on the Georgia Southern campus “are consistently open in November when there’s a general election,” and the Honey Bowen Building has occasionally be used for some early voting days, Jones noted, but she and the Elections Board are staffing only the annex for the April-May 2024 early voting.

That this is a primary, where partisan races are involved, will inevitably cause some confusion, Jones observed. In Georgia, voters are not registered with a political party but choose either a Democratic Party or a Republican Party ballot on the way into the primary election.

Choosing a party

“The easiest way that I  try to explain it to voters is that ‘primary’ is equated to ‘parties,’ and that means that a person will have to tell us what party’s ballot  they would like to vote on. …,” she said. “That’s going to confuse some, especially locally, because depending on how the candidates qualified and depending on what party ballot a voter chooses, they may not see other races because they’re on a different party ballot.”

For example, both incumbent Sheriff Noel Brown and  challenger Keith Howard signed up to run as Republicans, so the race for sheriff will appear only on the Republican Party ballot. That is also the case with the race for Board of Commissioners chairman between incumbent  Roy Thompson and challenger David Bennett, again both Republicans, and for District Attorney between incumbent Daphne Totten and challenger Robert Busbee, also Republicans.

The coroner race, with no  incumbent, will have Craig R. Tremble and Matthew Lovett facing each other on the Democratic Party ballot, while Chuck Francis appears alone on the Republican ballot. So the winner between Lovett and Tremble in the May 21 primary will face Francis in the November general election.

Two of the county commissioner district seats have  contests underway involving both parties, and these will continue to the November general election, after voters in the primary in effect choose party nominees. For commission District 1, Seat A, Democratic incumbent Ray Mosley will  appear unopposed on the  May  21 Democratic ballot, while Republican challenger Ryan  Brannen appears unopposed on the May 21 Republican ballot.

For commissioner District 2, Seat C, incumbent Jappy Stringer and challengers Brian Fund and Nick Newkirk will appear on the Republican ballot. The winner from among them May  21 or in a June runoff will face Democratic candidate Len Fatica in November, but for now he’s alone on the Democratic ballot.

But for  commissioner District 2, Seat A, incumbent Curt Deal and challenger  Ray  Davis  are both Republicans, so that one will be decided completely by District 2 Republican ballot voters in the May 21 primary.

Check sample ballots

“So  knowing  what’s on the ballot and deciding  what offices are the most important offices that a voter would like to cast their  ballot in is what they really need to look into,”  Jones said, “to see what races are most important to them  and determine which ballot style they would  like to vote on.”

So looking at sample  ballots yet can  be helpful. She did not  have  them  yet Friday but  plans to  make sample ballots available  soon. The My Voter Page can also provide a voter-specific sample ballot when one becomes available.