By Edward M. Cook, Special to the Reporter
January 7, 2021
Edward M. Cook, Special to the Reporter
By the time this article is published, the runoff elections in Georgia to determine the control of the US Senate will likely have been decided. Regardless of the outcome, there is an important story to be told: How is it that southwest Georgia counties led voter turnout in these runoffs? The following are my observations on what has been happening in Randolph, Quitman, and Stewart counties.
When the runoffs began, Bobby Jenkins was the chair of the Randolph County Democratic Party Committee, the only such committee of the three counties that was the focus of this local turnout effort. Only a few weeks later, Jenkins was leading a team that has built voter turnout that is already 73.6 percent of the November general election turnout. Randolph County is leading (ranging from first place to twelfth, depending on the hour) all the other 158 Georgia counties’ turnouts, whose average
6 Min Read
CUTHBERT, Ga. (Reuters) - Three days before Tuesday’s all-important Georgia runoffs for the U.S. Senate, Derrick Gorsuch braved the rain in a pickup truck, scouring poor Black neighborhoods in his rural slice of the state for anyone who needed one last prod to vote.
Bobby Jenkins, the Democratic chair for Randolph County, poses for a picture in Cuthbert, Georgia, U.S., January 2, 2021. REUTERS/Nathan Layne
The 20-year-old canvasser for the Democratic candidates knew how high the stakes were. Victory in the twin races would give the Democrats control of Congress and with it the power to advance or block Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s ability to govern.