Voters have let their voices be heard in Election 2024. According to unofficial results posted online at approximately 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday, Lumpkin County has overwhelmingly chosen Republican candidate Donald Trump for President of the United States and incumbent Rich McCormick for the U.S. House of Representatives representing District 7.
Lumpkin voted ‘yes’ to a proposed Constitutional Amendment that establishes a state-wide homestead exemption and a state-wide referendum raising personal property tax exemptions, both by a roughly two-to-one margin.
Local voters also approved a second Constitutional Amendment providing for a state-wide Georgia Tax Court, but that particular vote was much closer, with only 250 votes separating the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes.
Uncontested state-wide winners were Steve Gooch for State Senate, District 51, Will Wade for State House, District 9 or, on the Precinct 002 ballot, Lee Hawkins for State House, District 27.
Uncontested local winners were Rita Harkins for Clerk of Superior Court, Stacy Jarrard for Sheriff, Mike Young for Tax Commissioner, John Gaston for Surveyor, Mark Cox for Coroner, Chris Dockery for County Commission Chair, Tucker Greene for County Commission District 1 and Dr. Bobby Mayfield for County Commissioner District 2.
Overall turnout in Lumpkin came in at a robust 76.71 percent, with 17,867 of the county’s 23,293 eligible voters casting ballots in the contest.
Advance voting in Lumpkin represented 60.58 percent of the total turnout, while 2,930 citizens chose to vote on Election Day. Absentee by mail amounted to 3.54 percent of the vote total, with 825 ballots cast.
After the unofficial results had been tallied, Lumpkin County Election Supervisor Ashley Peck told The Nugget that there were no issues to report with Election Day voting.
“It went really smooth. It was great,” Peck said shortly after the unofficial totals had been uploaded Tuesday evening.
STATE-WIDE RACES
In Lumpkin County, former President Donald Trump had a dominant showing, receiving 14,318 votes, or 80.5 percent, compared to 3,339 votes for Democrat candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
As of 11:15 p.m. on election night, Trump held a 188,596 vote lead over Harris in Georgia with 156 out of 159 counties reporting, although the Associated Press had not formally called the race yet at that point.
Rich McCormick racked up 14,228 votes, or 82.4 percent, to 3,045 votes for 3,045 votes for Democrat Bob Christian.
In the uncontested state-wide races, Senator Steve Gooch received 15,490 votes, while Representative Will Wade received 13,607 votes and Representative Lee Hawkins received 1,893 votes.
LOCAL RACES
Proposed Constitutional Amendment 1 got 10,941 ‘yes’ votes, or 65.3 percent of the total.
Proposed Constitutional Amendment 2 collected 8,359 ‘yes’ votes, or 50.8 percent.
Referendum Question 1 received the approval of 11,957, or 70.5 percent, of the county’s voters.
Uncontested local winners Rita Harkins garnered 15,800 votes, Sheriff Stacy Jarrard received 16,073 votes, Mike Young received 15,525 votes, John Gaston received 15,557 votes, Mark Cox received 15,544 votes, Chairman Chris Dockery got 15,364 votes, Commissioner Tucker Greene received 15,361 votes and Commissioner Dr. Bobby Mayfield received 15,539 votes.