Polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday for Albany City Commission runoff election

ALBANY — With the holiday-shortened early voting period over, voters have one more opportunity to head to the polls for the Tuesday Albany City Commission Ward III runoff election.

Polls will be open at seven precincts from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. in the race between incumbent Commissioner B.J. Fletcher and challenger Vilnis Gaines.

Tuesday’s contest will decide the makeup of the commission for the next two years, with Wards II and V decided during the November general election.

“We’re going with (the glass) half-full and not half-empty and hope people are back from sharing with their family and come out on Election Day,” Dougherty County Elections Supervisor Ginger Nickerson said.

Through the three days of early voting last week, a little less than 200 of the 8,394 registered voters in Ward III cast ballots. An additional 23 absentee ballots were requested from Nickerson’s office.

“We encourage our voters who did not participate in the Nov. 2 general election to participate in the runoff and for people who did participate to participate on Tuesday,” Nickerson said.

All registered voters in the ward are eligible to vote on Tuesday.

The precincts that will be open on Tuesday are Sherwood Elementary School, Covenant Presbyterian Church, Merry Acres Middle School, Carver Teen Center, Shiloh Baptist Church, Litman Cathedral and the Phoebe Education Building.

Voters who are not sure whether they are registered and eligible to vote in the election can visit https://www.dougherty.ga.us/government/departments/voter-registration-elections/ or call (229) 431-3247.

Gaines finished first in the three-way general election with 39.15 percent of the vote (435) and Fletcher was second with 35.73 percent (397) of the vote in the three-way race. Daa’iyah Salaam finished third with 279 votes, or 25.11 percent.

Voters returned incumbent Bob Langstaff to another four-year term and elected political newcomer Jalen Johnson to Ward II to replace Commissioner Matt Fuller, who did not seek another term in office.

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
File Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]