Qualifying for General Election in Toccoa and Martin Coming Up

MJ Kneiser

Qualifying takes place later this month for two municipalities that will have seats up for grabs in the November General Election.

The General Election takes place November 7

Both the City of Toccoa and the City of Martin will have open seats in November, according to Stephens County Registrar Bill Cochran.

“The City of Toccoa has two commissioner seats that are open, that would be Jeannette Jameison and Evan Hellenga’s current seats,” said Cochran. “In the town of Martin, there are council seats and the mayor, a total of three seats open for the election.”

Cochran said qualifying for the Martin races will take place in his office the week of August 21.

“The town of Martin, the qualifying will be at the registrar’s office in the Stephens County Annex and those dates are from August 21 at 9 a.m. to August 25 at noon the following Friday,” said Cochran. “The dates for the city are different, they’re only for three days.”

In Toccoa, anyone wanting to run for the two City Commission seats will need to qualify at Toccoa City Hall, according to City Clerk Fredda Wheeler.

“The qualifying period for municipal elections will be held August 21 starting at 8:30 and end on August 23 at 4:30,” said Wheeler. “The fee to qualify is $272 and anyone wishing to qualify as a candidate for the municipal election would need to qualify here at the City of Toccoa at City Hall with the city clerk.”

Unlike last November’s General Election, voting for both municipal elections will take place in two different places.

Cochran said voters in the Martin municipal election will come to the Registrar’s office in Toccoa and City of Toccoa residents will vote at Toccoa City Hall.

Registrar and Elections offices across Georgia are currently updating their voter rolls and now is the time to register to vote if you have not already done so.

It’s also a good time to check to make sure you are still registered to vote if you have not voted in some years.

Cochran said there are several ways to do that.

“They can either contact us by phone and we’ll verify their eligibility to vote,” said Cochran. “Or they can drop by and we can give them the information in person. To re-register you can do it online or you can come by the office at the Stephens County Court House Annex and register in person.”

The deadline to register to vote is October 10.

Absentee ballots will go out October 13 and early voting begins October 16.