Polls open Tuesday for pair of elections

The polls will open Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. for an unexpected special election in Columbia County.

The county's five-member Board of Commissioners has had an empty seat since September when Mark Devoti resigned to accept a job in Virginia.

Devoti, who represented District 4, left with another year on his term.

His departure opened the door for five political hopefuls to run for the seat.

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One of those candidates, George James, was a member of the Grovetown City Council and resigned his post to run for the commission seat. Two candidates came forward to run for the remaining year on James' term.

There are nearly 13,000 people eligible to vote in Tuesday's special elections, said Deborah Marshall, director of the Columbia County Board of Elections.

She said that getting ready for the unexpected contest has been daily focus for her office during the past month.

"We only really had 27 days to get ready for this election after the call was made, so we've been working hard to make it happen," Marshall said. "But we're pretty equipped to handle a situation like this."

COUNTY COMMISSIONER-DISTRICT 4 RACE

WHERE TO VOTE

010 - Kiokee Baptist Church

020 - Harlem Middle School

021 - Harlem Baptist Church

025 - Bessie Thomas Community Ctr.

026 - Euchee Creek Elementary

030 - Grovetown City Hall

031 - Grovetown United Methodist Church

032 - Greater Augusta Apostolic Church

040 - Eubank Blanchard Community Ctr.