Walton County Runoff Election Tuesday, Aug. 21

There are two Runoff Elections in Walton County. In Commission District 2, incumbent Commissioner Chuck Bagley will face off against second-place finisher Mark Banks. In the coroner’s race, incumbent Joseph Page goes up against challenger Richard Jenkins. The runoff elections will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21, in all regular voting locations in the county.

In the District 2 Primary Election on July 31, Bagley got 47.13 percent in a three-way race, forcing a runoff against Banks who got 34.34 percent of the vote. Terry Mitchell, who got 18.53 percent, has come out in support of Banks, as has Loganville political activist Herman McCart, who originally supported Mitchell.

Bagley said it has been a tough campaign, but he is continuing to work hard to get people out to vote for him.

“I have been doing the same thing as I did in the campaign, talking to individuals, making telephone calls, putting up and replacing missing signs, advertising my performance and asking for the vote,” Bagley said, adding that he has a number of people who have assured him they voted for him first time around and will again in the runoff. He said he believes his support of the TSPLOST, which was voted down, is what prevented him getting over the 50 percent needed to win without a runoff, but felt he had to be honest about what he believed.

“I would not have supported it in metro Atlanta, but did for Walton County,” Bagley said. “This is the first time that any state government has allowed a local government to choose the projects for their area.”

Bagley is asking that people take into account that sometimes voting against those in office just for the sake of change isn’t necessarily the best.

“It didn’t work nationally,” he said. “Let me help you by helping me maintain stability in your local government.”

Banks, who previously served on the Walton County Board of Education, ran unsuccessfully at the beginning of the year for District 107 in the Georgia House of Representatives. He then threw his hat into the ring for Walton County District 2. In his flyer, Banks notes that he was against the TSPLOST and that he is a straight shooter and not a flip-flopper.

In the coroner’s race, incumbent Page got 49.12 percent of the vote, not enough to get through without a runoff. Second-place finisher Jenkins got 30.03 percent of the vote.