Georgia primary wrapup

A glance at some of the races of interest and results from around the state Tuesday:

Conservative Democrat Vernon Jones ended on top of the five-man U.S. Senate primary. Jones garnered 40-percent of the vote to 2nd-place finisher Jim Martin’s 34-percent. The two will face-off in the runoff in three weeks.

From the 10th district Republican primary, Congressman Paul Broun of Athens topped state representative Barry Fleming by a margin of more than 2-to-1.

In the 12th district Democratic primary, John Barrow rolled to victory over state Senator Regina Thomas of Savannah. Barrow picked up 76-percent of the vote. He will face Republican John Stone in November.

The first primary challenge in 16 years for longtime Atlanta congressman John Lewis was an easy win against a pair of challengers.

In central Georgia’s 8th congressional district, it was the easy win for representative Jim Marshall.

Voters in Banks, Barrow, and Jackson counties voted to oust the district attorney appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue in the Piedmont Circuit. Richard Bridgeman was appointed last August to replace Tim Madison, who eventually admitted guilt to stolen funds from the DA's office and is serving a six-year sentence. Voters in a runoff will now decide between two other Republican candidates.

For more on these races and other election news and results, please check-out our special website page: gpb.org/election

Primary voter turnout expected near 30-percent

State elections officials expect voter turnout to be around 30-percent for tomorrow’s primary. But that projection could vary depending where the hotly-contested races are in Georgia.

The 30-percent turnout projection would come-in lower than the over 40-percent of registered voters that cast ballots in February’s presidential primary.

But Deputy Secretary of State Rob Simms says high profile races should get a higher bump in turnout--such as perhaps primary voting in the 12th and 10th districts, and statewide interest in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary race:

"I think what you'll see is you'll see in some areas where you've got some real contentious and competitive races you may see some spikes in turnout in those areas. And other areas of the state where you may not have anything going on, you may see a little bit lower".

Simms says the advance and absentee voting has come-in at a "pretty good number"--so far 150,000 through Friday.

State absentee voting open for July primary

Absentee voting for Georgia's primary election begins today. Governor Sonny Perdue recently signed into a law a provision to remove the restriction for voting absentee in person, but that provision has not yet been approved by the federal level. For voters casting absentee ballots by mail, a reason does not need to be given. The state's primary election is July 15th.

Super Tuesday voting underway in Georgia

The polls are open across Georgia, and will stay open until 7pm tonight. The Secretary of State's office says registered voter turnout for Georgia will likely exceed 30%. This is the fourth election to put the new photo voter ID requirement to use, but the first real statewide test of the law approved by a federal judge in September.

State election officials report advance voting was strong in the state last week. Over 203-thousand people cast ballots from January 28th through February 1st. Over 44-thousand residents cast absentee ballots.

Stay with GPB all day long, via your local radio station or right here by our website. On GPB-Radio, get the latest in Georgia's voting with news in All Things Considered beginning at 4pm, with Georgia Gazette at 6pm, and within NPR's special primary coverage at 8pm on GPB-Radio. GPB's reporters will be fanned-out across the state to give you the flavor as to how Georgians are voting.

Presidential primary ballot confirmed by Secretary of State

The ballot is now official for Georgia’s Presidential primary. Secretary of State Karen Handel says there are eight Democrats and nine Republicans in the running. Georgia will hold its Presidential Primary on February 5th, 2008. Voters who would like to participate in the primary must register to vote by January 7, 2008. If you would like to register to vote, please visit http://www.sos.georgia.gov/ .

In accordance with the list provided by the Democratic Party of Georgia, the following candidates will be listed on the Republican ballot in alphabetical order: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Fred Thompson.

In accordance with the list provided by the Republican Party of Georgia, the following candidates will be listed on the Republican ballot in alphabetical order: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis J. Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson.

Perdue signs election laws

It's now official: Georgia voters will go to the polls on February 5, 2008 to select Republican and Democratic presidential nominees.

Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the law Tuesday making February 5 Georgia's primary election date. He says the earlier election will force presidential hopefuls to campaign harder and more often in Georgia.

He also says this could be the start of a national primary.

"I, for one, frankly have never felt that Iowa, nor New Hampshire, should be the determinants of who becomes the two nominees," Perdue says. "I think as the population moves to the South and Southwest, you’ll see more of these efforts."

Lawmakers in about two dozen other states also recently chose February fifth as their primary election date.

Perdue also signed a law making absentee voter fraud a felony. Until now, election fraud laws have focused on tightening photo identification requirements for voters who go to the polls. Those laws were struck down by the courts. They were also criticized, in part because almost all of the voter fraud cases in Georgia history have involved absentee ballots. There were no safeguards against that type of fraud in the laws.

Secretary of State Karen Handel, who was at the bill signing, says this new law addresses that problem.

"Any type of fraud is something we're not going to stand for here in Georgia," Handel says. "What this legislation does is make sure that penalties for absentee ballot fraud are consistent with in-person voter fraud."

People found guilty of absentee voter fraud could spend up to 10 years in prison, and pay up to $100,000 in fines.