Houston County gets higher-than-expected voter turnout

Despite predictions of as low as 9 percent voter turnout Tuesday, 18 percent of registered voters in Houston County voted in the statewide Republican primary runoff elections.

Houston County Probate Judge Luke Cooley said she was pleased with the overall turnout, but stopped short of calling it a good one.

“I was surprised. We had good turnout in the smaller precincts as well as the large precincts,” Cooley said. “It was a good turnout for a July runoff election. We did not have a good voter turnout, but for a July runoff, it’s hard to get this many people to the polls.”

The turnout varied from location to location, however. Workers at Houston-Love Memorial Library expressed disappointment in the voting numbers there.

“It was slow, especially for such an important election to this area,” said Chief Inspector Raba Coggins. “Someone that didn’t care enough to come out and vote, shame on them. Nobody can complain if they didn’t get out and vote.”

Cooley credited the candidates for drawing people to the polls.

“The candidates did a really good job of getting people to the polls in the middle of summer,” she said.

She expects big voting numbers for the November election.

“We’re expecting an explosion in November,” Cooley said. “I’m really believing it’ll be over 50 percent. I’ve already warned my workers. Everybody will have to earn their pay that day.”