Jasper Voters Post Record Numbers
Jasper voters turned out in record numbers Tuesday to put Georgia solidly behind President Bush and help give Republicans control of Congress and the state legislature. They also gave overwhelming support for financing for a new high school and picked Democrats in the only contested local offices.
As expected, the presidential race was once again a cliff hanger, with President Bush holding a razor-thin edge in a race too close to call early Wednesday.
Perhaps the biggest surprise locally came as Jasper helped Republicans bounce two veteran legislators. Johnny Grant carried Jasper by a 58 percent margin (see “Returns By Precinct” in print edition) on his way to victory over state Sen. Faye Smith. In the multi-county 125th Senatorial District his margin was 52-48 percent. The count with 91 percent of precincts in was 29,258 for Grant, 26,794 for Smith.
Similarly, local voters turned on veteran state Rep. Curtis Jenkins, giving Jim Cole 55 percent of the local vote to boost the Republican candidate to 9,774 votes to 8,454 for Jenkins, or 54-46 percent, in the 25th House District with 85 percent of precincts counted.
Those reversals helped the Republicans gain control of both houses of the General Assembly for the first time since Reconstruction. The GOP’s existing edge in the Senate grew to 31 of the chamber’s 56 seats. In the House the Democratic majority disappeared as 91 of the 180 posts were taken by Republicans, according to media reports early Wednesday.
About two-thirds of the voters in Jasper favored both President Bush for reelection and Johnny Isakson, the Republican favorite for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Zell Miller. Statewide, the margins were somewhat smaller, with the President taking 59 percent to 41 percent for John Kerry; Isakson garnered 58 percent of the vote to 39 percent for Denise Majette and 2 percent for Libertarian Allen Buckley.
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As expected Lynn Westmoreland easily won the Eighth District congressional seat vacated by Mac Collins who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in the U.S. Senate primary. Mr. West-moreland’s 69 percent margin in Jasper compares with a 76 percent edge district-wide over little known Democrat Sylvia Delamar.
Jasper mirrored statewide preferences in giving Republican incumbent Robert Baker a 62 percent edge in the contest for a Pubic Service Commission seat; Mr. Baker carried the state with a 57 percent margin.
Howard Mead, Jasper’s favorite for a Court of Appeals judgeship did not fare as well statewide as the 51 percent majority he tallied here. Over the state Debra Bernes led the ticket with 42 percent to 39 percent for Mr. Mead and 20 percent for Mike Sheffield. Since none had a majority, a runoff will be scheduled on Nov. 23.
Locally, voters passed both a proposal to issue bonds for a new high school and a special sales tax to finance them by better than 70 percent. In the only countywide race for a local office Probate Judge Kathy Tyler, a Democrat, handily defeated Fred Meyer, 72-28 percent. Democrat James Wright tallied 523 votes, 70 percent, to 224 for Bernard Fontaine in the District 1 contest for a County Commission seat.
Voters in Jasper and statewide firmly endorsed two constitutional amendments. A provision dealing with same-sex unions passed by an 89 per cent margin locally, 76 percent statewide. An amendment dealing with appeals to the state Supreme Court passed in Jasper by a 68 percent edge, 69 percent statewide.
The 4,761 voters who cast ballots, including hundreds who voted early or by absentee ballot, exceeds any turnout in recent history. The total was nearly 80 percent of the county’s 6,000 registered voters.
