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11:13:
The charter school amendment is going to pass.
John Barrow seems to have beaten Lee Anderson by 138,841 to 119,671. Â It’s sure going to be interesting to see the finger pointing about this one.
The unofficial results with 89/89 precincts reporting in Chatham County, a few key numbers:
Obama 55.53
Romney 43.19
This is interesting because Obama had 56.8 in 2008. That very slight decline suggests that we saw neither a big surge in Republican turnout nor a big decline in Democratic or black turnout.
District Attorney:
Heap 56.21
Chisolm 43.70
Clerk, Superior Court:
Massey 50.57
Garrett 49.40
Sheriff:
St. Lawrence: 50.51
Holmes 49.43
Chatham County Commission Chair:
Scott 51.98
DeLoach 47.97
These races remain very, very close, and it’s possible that we could see recounts, absentee or provisional ballots, etc., that could change the outcomes.
10:38:
The sheriff, commission chair, and court clerk races are simply too close to call, with 5 of 89 precincts unreported in Chatham County.
10:18:
I don’t know all the counties in GA CD 12 that well, but Barrow has built up an impressive lead of more than 24,000 votes. Here’s the current vote total, with green checkmarks indicating those counties are fully reported:
10:04:
Congratulations to Meg Daly Heap, who leads Larry Chisolm 52956 to 40764 with 84 of 89 precincts reporting. She will be the new District Attorney in Chatham County.
10:00:
Congratulations to Jack Kingston, whom the AP has called as winning yet again in Ga. CD 1.
9:50:
With 67 of 89 precincts in Chatham County:
Obama: 55%
Heap: 56% for DA
St. Lawrence: 50.4% for Sheriff
Massey: 50.7% for Superior Court Clerk
Scott: 52.0% for CC Commission Chair
9:46:
The charter school amendment is up 56.8% statewide. There’s little reason to think that the late returns from the Atlanta area will cut significantly into that deficit, if at all. (Though I could be wrong! Georgia politics is a bit of a mystery.)
9:22:
With about one-third of Chatham County precincts reporting (31/89), Obama has 60.9% of the vote, so there would seem to be a Democratic lean of at least 5 points at the moment.
Currently, Meg Heap has 51.1% of the vote (she’s headed for a win), but the rest of the competitive countywide races are tight:
Sheriff:
Holmes: 55.1%
St. Lawrence: 44.9%
Court Clerk:
Garret: 54.9%
Massey: 45.0%
CC Commission Chair:
Scott: 57.4%
DeLoach: 42.5%
9:18:
John Barrow has now moved significantly ahead of Lee Anderson as votes are coming in in large numbers from the Augusta area:
Anderson:71,146
Barrow: 87,304
9:04:
We’ve been stuck for a while now with only 11 of 89 Chatham County precincts reporting. Just waiting . . .
8:36:
Heap is considerably outperforming the other key Republican candidates in Chatham County tonight. She’s doing so far 9 points better than Eddie DeLoach and about 6 points better than Al St. Lawrence and 5 points better than Dan Massey.
8:30:
With 11 of 89 precincts in Chatham County reporting, Romney has 52% of the vote. Meg Daly Heap has 68% of the vote. That’s a big early advantage for Heap, indicating that she’s getting lots of votes from those voting for Obama. Really good news for Heap.
8:24:
It looks like Lee Anderson (R) in Georgia CD #12 is going to underperform Mitt Romney by as much as 15%. Things are looking very very good for John Barrow — the last white House Democrat from the Deep South — to be re-elected.
7:54:
In Candler County, which is part of the newly drawn Congressional District 12, Mitt Romney leads Obama 1,748 to 721. But Lee Anderson leads John Barrow only 1,297 to 1,120. This is bad, bad news for Anderson. With Anderson underperforming Romney to that degree, Barrow looks to me like a better than even bet to be returned to Congress.
7:28:
There should be some results soon from Chatham County — the first trickle of 89 precincts. I’ll be curious to see the relationship between the local vote and the national vote. Larry Chisolm slightly underperformed Obama in 2008 for DA, for example, and he can’t afford to drop too far off the pace Obama sets. So we might get some clues really early about the evening’s results.
6 p.m.:
Just a few reminders of the 2008 percentages in Chatham County won by key officials seeking re-election today in Chatham County:
Larry Chisolm — DA — 54.3%
Al St. Lawrence — Sheriff — 50.8%
In 2008, Pete Liakakis won 68.0% in the Chatham County commission chair race, and Dan Massey was unopposed as Superior Court clerk. Massey had a Democratic opponent in 2004, however, and won just 51.5% of the vote.