Staff Reports

After a long, ugly fight, election night held few surprises as many races shook out exactly as many observers suspected they would. The biggest race was the presidential race, where President Barack Obama has locked in a second term.

Locally, Lane Price held off Rev. Lorenzo Heard’s write-in campaign for the at-large seat on the Dougherty County Board of Education.  In Lee County, incumbent Rick Muggridge defeated independent Tim Nelson in the Lee County Commission district four race while Luke Singletary defeated Mary Egler in the district two race.

Georgia also now has two new constitutional amendments as voters opted to permit the state of Georgia to establish charter schools regardless of the wishes of local school boards.  The second amendment that passed allows the state to enter into multiyear leases on property in what the state describes as an effort to negotiate lower rents for agency offices that don’t outright own the facility.

Two other races of interest to the region were for the United States House of Representatives.  In the second district, democrat Sanford Bishop won an additional term, easily defeating retired colonel John House.  In the twelfth district, democrat John Barrow held off republican Lee Anderson in a seat that Republicans felt was very vulnerable.

Perhaps one of the biggest stories wasn’t who won, but how many Georgians turned out.  The Secretary of State’s office reports that over 71% of the registered voters in the state came out to vote. This came after years of lackluster turnout for even major elections.