In the first seven days of early voting for the Nov. 4 election, 1,066 Bulloch County residents cast ballots, including 506 voters who are residents of Statesboro, which has a mayoral race underway race as well as, in one district, a city council race. Countywide, voters are deciding two sales tax questions.

The ballot also includes two statewide races for Georgia Public Service Commission seats.

Nearly three weeks of weekday, advanced in-person voting opportunity began Tuesday, Oct. 14, and last Saturday was the first of two Saturdays for voting. So, seven days of early voting were complete when county Election Supervisor Shontay Jones generated a report Tuesday evening, Oct. 21, of the number of ballots voted so far. There had been 1,055 in-person electronic ballots accepted, plus 11 paper by-mail absentee ballots.

Included in those countywide totals were 503 in-person Statesboro city resident ballots plus three absentee ballots completed by voters who reside in Statesboro city Precinct 1 or Precinct 2. The mayoral race between challenger Raymond Harris and incumbent Mayor Jonathan McCollar is taking place in both those precincts.

Statesboro Precinct 1 also encompasses the District 1 City Council race between challenger John Grotheer and incumbent Councilmember Tangie Johnson, but also council District 2, which has no council election this year. Of the 506 city voters, 375 were from Precinct 1.

But those counts were through Tuesday, and another full day of in-person early voting followed Wednesday, and early voting will continue through next week.

For this election, the only early voting location in Bulloch County is the Board of Elections and Registration office at the County Annex, 113 North Main St., Suite 201. This week, it remains open for voting 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Then this Saturday, Oct. 25, is the second and final Saturday available for voting in this election, and the elections office will be staffed for voting Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Weekday in-person early voting will still be available at the same location for five more days next week, Monday-Friday, Oct. 27-31, again 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Absentee deadline

This Friday, Oct. 24, is the deadline to file an absentee ballot request so that a paper ballot can be mailed to you.  But absentee ballots completed and returned  to the election office by the 7 p.m. close of voting on Nov. 4 can be counted. So far, as of Tuesday, Bulloch County elections staff had accepted 110 absentee ballot  requests, but  just  11 of the ballots had been completed and returned.

Election Day

For registered voters who don’t vote early or absentee, Bulloch County’s 16 precinct polling places will open for their assigned voters from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Bulloch County currently has 49,094 “active” registered voters, plus 4,663 “inactive” voters still on the rolls but who haven’t voted in several years, for a total of 53,757 registered voters, according to a chart Jones provided.

FLOST referendum

One of the two sales tax questions on the ballot, FLOST, the “Floating Local  Option  Sales Tax,” would add a ninth penny of tax in Bulloch County, with the revenue to be used for an eventual reduction in property taxes of the county and all four of the cities and towns. But that property tax relief won’t arrive immediately.

If approved by a majority of voters, the additional 1% sales tax will take effect Jan. 1, 2026 and last for five years unless renewed. 

Rollback required

The county government and the four cities would receive shares of the FLOST revenue each year based on their percentages of total local tax millage rates. The state law requires local governments to use this money to roll back property tax by a proportional amount, not for additional projects.

However, the revenue legally couldn’t be distributed to the cities or used by the county for a rollback until July 1, 2027. Until that time the money will be held in a special fund.

So, the actual effect in terms of property tax reductions wouldn’t arrive until fall 2027, local officials have said.

E-SPLOST for schools

The other sales tax referendum is for a five-year extension of ESPLOST, the Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, as proposed by the Bulloch County Board of Education. It’s one of the county’s four existing local 1% sales taxes, which with the state’s 4% sales tax make the total here 8% on non-exempt items.

With the current ESPLOST tax – the fifth five-year installment – slated to be collected through September 2028 unless it first reaches its $110 million revenue cap, which appears unlikely, this “ESPLOST-6” referendum is for the tax to continue to be collected from Oct. 1, 2028 until Sept. 30, 2033. It carries a revenue  limit of $175 million and would authorize bonds or  other debt  up to $120 million to fund construction and be repaid from the tax.

The largest funded project would be the completion of the proposed new 2,000-student Southeast Bulloch High School. But the school board has listed 11 other authorized priorities, including purchases of school buses, instructional materials and software, school furnishings and equipment, as well as temporary portable buildings and renovation work.

State PSC races

Finally, the two Georgia Public Service Commission races are actually the top items on the Bulloch County ballot.

The District 2 PSC race is between Republican incumbent Tim Echols and Democratic challenger Alicia M. Johnson. The District 3 PSC contest pits Democratic challenger Peter Hubbard against Republican incumbent Fitz Johnson. Although PSC members are required to live in their districts, voters statewide elect all of the members to the board that regulates electric power bills and certain aspects of telecommunication.