Election Day is Today in Stephens Co.

Stephens County voters will head to the polls today to decide a host of races in the primary and non-partisan election.

Registrar Bill Cochran said all voting today will take place at the Stephens County Senior Center on Rose Lane in Toccoa.

“Polls will open at 7 a.m.,” said Cochran. “They will go through the day and close at 7 p.m. Voters need to bring a photo ID.”

Anyone in line at 7 p.m. will be able to vote.

Also, it should be noted that all voting today takes place at the Senior Center. There is no voting today at the Registrar’s Office or at any other location in Stephens County.

Voters must choose a ballot style to vote, either Republican, Democratic, or non-partisan.

Local contested races are all on the Republican ballot.

First, Jim Davis is challenging incumbent Randy Shirley for Stephens County Sheriff.

Five people are running for Post 2 on the Stephens County Commission. They are incumbent Debbie Whitlock and challengers Jonesy Haygood, Henry Moore, Kenny Yearwood, and Larry Krul.

Moving to the Stephens County Board of Education, Len Stovall is running against incumbent Tony Crunkleton for the at-large seat on the board and Mark Smith is challenging incumbent Jim Ledford for the District 3, Post 2 seat on the Stephens County Board of Education.

At the regional level, incumbent 50th District Republican State Senator John Wilkinson faces a challenge from Roy Benifield of Martin.

Also, George Christian and Bruce Russell are running for the post of Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney and five people are running for the post of 9th District U.S. House. They are incumbent Doug Collins and challengers Paul Broun, Bernie Fontaine, Mike Scupin, and Roger Fitzpatrick.

The non-partisan race of Stephens County Chief Magistrate between incumbent Don Tabor and challenger Ralph Stowe will appear on both the Republican and Democratic ballots.

There is a U.S. Senate primary for both the Republicans and the Democrats as well.

Cochran said with a lot of races to be decided and heavy turnout expected, the polls at the Senior Center are expected to be a busy place.

“Be prepared for some lines,” said Cochran. “We have everything set up that we can set up to prepare for it, but the busy times will be early in the morning from 7 to 9, then from 11 to 2, and from 3:30 until closing.”

He said a high voter turnout today would continue a trend that started with early voting.

“We had a tremendous turnout for early voting,” said Cochran. “With a total including mail-in ballots, we took in 3,050 votes during early voting.”

Also, voters who still have a mail-in, paper absentee ballot must return it to the Registrar’s Office by 7 p.m. tonight.

Anyone with questions on voting should contact the Stephens County Registrar’s Office at 706-886-8954 or go online to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office website at www.sos.ga.gov.

Once polls close at 7 p.m., tune in to 93.1 FM and AM 630 WNEG, along with wnegradio.com, for live election coverage at 7:05 p.m. as the votes are counted.