By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JULY 3, 2020 | It was a perfect storm that changed a primary election. If our world had not been in the COVID-19 pandemic, the outcome of the Georgia Primary could have been different.
Here’s why.
Never before have so many Georgians voted by absentee ballot Statewide, there were 1,149,469 absentee ballots cast, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. (Poll officials were overwhelmed with counting this many absentee ballots.) Back in 2016, as a comparison, only 36,986 absentee ballots were cast in the primary.
Every time a voter asked for an absentee ballot, that person’s email became available to political campaign managers. And some of these managers knew how to capitalize on this for their candidate.
The upshot was that candidates could communicate directly with the voters, since their emails were of public record. These candidates simply had the emails dumped into their lap, and a few knew how to mine them. Those candidates who used social media for direct contact with the voters ran a campaign like never before. The more traditional campaign manager, who did not think to use social media to promote their candidates, ran a standard “good old boy” campaign, and for the most part, lost.
In Gwinnett, there were 85,600 absentee ballots cast.
Look what happened in the Democratic race for county commission chairman. There were five candidates for that nomination. Nicole Love Hendrickson almost won the race without a runoff, scoring 49.35 percent of the vote. The other candidates trailed dismally, with Lee Thompson getting in the run-off with only 13.85 percent of the vote.
And now Nicole will be the Democratic nominee, as Lee Thompson has announced that he was suspending his campaign and supporting Ms. Hendrickson. Therefore, she can now concentrate on her General Election campaign against Republican David Post.
We talked with Nicole Love Hendrickson recently. She feels that it was social media which gave what even to her was a surprise overwhelming lead in the race. She polled 50,875 votes out of the 103,086 votes cast in this race, meaning she would have to get to 51,544 to win (718 more) without a run-off.
Lee Thompson’s announcement is similar to what happened in Gwinnett in the chairman’s race in 1980. Newcomer Charles Ashworth had the most votes that year but Wayne Mason, who had served for eight years on the Commission, the last four years as chairman, was forced into a runoff with Ashworth. The third candidate in that race was Rex Millsaps. But Mason, seeing the handwriting on the wall ended his campaign without a runoff, and in those heavily Democratic days, giving the chairmanship to Ashworth.
Curt Thompson, who finished third behind Lee Thompson, announced Thursday that he endorses Ms. Hendrickson for the chairmanship.
For the August 11 vote, Gwinnett County will have seven run-off races.
Ms. Hendrickson will be on the ballot for chairman, though she is assured of the nomination.
Other run-offs:
- Democrats: Senate District 41: Kim Jackson (47.1%) faces Mohammed Jahangir Hossain (20.3%.)
- Non-partisan Superior Court: Incumbent Kathy Schrader (37.2%) has as an opponent Deborah R. Fluker (20.2%).
- Democrats: Sheriff: Curtis Clemons (33.1%) faces Keybo Taylor (32.2%).
- Democrats: Tax Commissioner: Tiffany Porter (42.8%) is opposed by Regina M. Carden (37.2%).
- Republicans: District 3 County Commission: Ben Archer (46.3%) and Matt Dereimer (29.4%) oppose one another.
- Democrats: District 3 County Commissioner: Derrick J. Wilson (33.2%) has as his opponent Jasper Warkins III (20.6%).
As they say about runoffs, it’s all according to who can get their voters to return to the polls.
So in Gwinnett, there’s still a lot of voting awaiting us, in this August run-off, and then the 2020 General Election. And don’t discount COVID-19, which might again affect the races.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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