VOTE! Advance voting ends May 20

Nearly 600 voters have taken advantage of early voting, including 72 who cast ballots Saturday, May 14. Early voting ends Friday, May 20 and no ballots will be cast again until election day Tuesday, May 24. In the first two weeks of early voting, 558 residents cast their ballots and 120 absentee ballots have been returned to the registrar’s office. There are 11,917 registered voters in Pike. ’Turnout has been slow all over the state,’ said Pike County registrar Sandi Chamblin. ‘This is an important election for our county and for our state. It’s important that we elect local officials who are going to keep our county running smoothly. If we don’t have a lot of voters come in on the last couple days of early voting, we will have long lines on election day and voters will be getting upset. We have a lot of young people in Pike County who should come out and vote. It’s not necessary to wait until the last minute.’ Local candidates include: Sheriff incumbent Jimmy Thomas faces challenger Geoffrey Zimbelman Jr.; Clerk of Superior Court incumbent Carolyn Williams faces challenger Rebekah Hanson; Probate judge incumbent Lynn Brandenburg faces challenger Brent Taylor; Chief Magistrate Judge Marcia Callaway-Ingram faces challenger Phil Hammond; County commission chairman Briar Johnson faces challenger Gary Hammock; Commission District 4 incumbent James Jenkins faces challenger Dale Jackson; and School board District 5 incumbent April Byrd faces challenger Denise Burrell.