Early voting for sheriff runoff starts Monday, April 10

The runoff for Clayton County Sheriff gets underway Monday with early voting. Clarence Cox, former National President of the National Organization of the Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), faces appointed Interim Sheriff Levon Allen.

In Georgia, county sheriffs are “constitutional” officers whose jobs are mandated by the Georgia Constitution. Their primary duties include serving warrants, maintaining safety in the courthouse, keeping records of court-ordered sales, running the county jail, and enforcing criminal law. You can read all the duties of Georgia county sheriffs in Georgia code.

Early voting will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., from Monday, April 10 through Friday April 14 at these locations:

On Election Day, which is Tuesday, April 18, you will need to vote at your county polling place (circled in red in the image below), which you can find by checking your voter information on mvp.sos.ga.gov. Log on, scroll down and click on the button that says “View/Print My Precinct Card.” You’ll see an image of your voter registration card:

Please note: If your normal Election Day precinct is First Presbyterian Church, 1842 Lake Jodeco Road in Jonesboro (JB05), you will (again) have to vote at the Historic Courthouse, 121 S. McDonough Street instead:

No write-ins

It’s important to realize that no candidate has been qualified as a write-in for this election. Under Georgia law, a write-in candidate has to pay to place a public notice in the county paper of record (here, that’s the Clayton News) and has to meet certification requirements with the Office of Elections and Registration. Do not listen to social media posters who say to write in this or that person. They may be trying to dilute your vote, or they may not understand that such votes will not be counted.

Remember: If the person urging you to write in the name of someone who has not qualified with Elections and Registration for this race, then your write-in vote will not be counted.

If someone tells you to write in their name, call Elections and Registration at (770) 477-3372 to verify whether that person is qualified as a write-in candidate. If they are not, you can file a complaint with the State Elections Board.

Sample ballot

Here is a sample copy of the ballot, issued by Clayton County Elections and Registration, so that you can see what it looks like. “Incumbent” means the person who currently holds the office. If you are filling out a paper absentee/advance ballot, be sure to fill in the oval completely instead of checking or marking an X on the oval.

On Election Day, Tuesday, April 18, the polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Results should come in fairly quickly as there is only one race on the ballot.

You will be able to watch the unofficial results in real time online at https://www.claytoncountyga.gov/government/elections-and-registration/.