Fannin County voters overwhelmingly gave Jamie Hensley the Republican nomination to be the next county commission chairman, and with no opposition having qualified to be on the General Election ballot, the chairmanship.
In what veteran local election watchers called the biggest margin of victory in Fannin County’s history, Hensley captured 78.29% of the votes cast in the runoff race against incumbent chairman Stan Helton.
Hensley’s General Primary Runoff Election win came Tuesday, August 11, when 5,053 voters cast ballots in the chairman’s Republican runoff.
Hensley captured 3,956 votes across 12 precincts while Helton received 1,097. A political newcomer, Hesley also won all 12 of Fannin’s voting precincts.
While the election results had not been certified by publication time, election night reporting, which included election day votes, advanced votes and absentee votes, saw 5,626 ballots cast in the Republican and Democratic primaries. This is only 28.54% of Fannin’s 19,715 registered voters.
Following the announcement of the final precincts, Hensley thanked those who aided him through his campaign and asked Fannin County residents to continue working toward the goal of unity, citing both Republicans and Democrats in the room who had come together to elect him.
Battles waging in both the Republican and Democrat parties also brought Fannin voters out to cast ballots in the party runoffs for U.S. House District 9. That seat is being vacated by Republican Doug Collins who is seeking election to the U.S. Senate.
Republican Andrew Clyde saw 2,826 Fannin ballots cast in his favor to challenger Matt Gurtler’s 2,147. District-wide, Clyde received 50,057 votes, and Gurtler received 38,836.
In Fannin County, Democrat Devin Pandy captured 344 votes, while Brooke Siskin received 179. District-wide, Pandy received 8,103 to Siskin’s 3,691.
Clyde and Pandy will move forward and challenge each other in the November General Election, where Fannin residents will have the opportunity to cast their ballots in favor of representatives at the local, state and federal levels.
The deadline to register to vote for November’s election is Monday, October 5. Those who need to register can do so online at www.registertovote.sos.ga.gov or by filling an application out at the Fannin County Board of Elections office, which is located on the third floor of the Fannin County Courthouse. The office can be reached at 706-632-7740.