Politics & Government

Bartow County Election Results 2012: Kittle, Moseley, Battles Win

Republicans Fred Kittle, incoming District 4 school board rep, Chief Magistrate Judge Tom Moseley and State Rep. Paul Battles, R-Cartersville, edged out Independent and Democratic opposition.

Unofficial 2012 Election Results

Republican Candidates Results Democratic Candidates Results Independent Candidates Results School Board, District 4 Fred Kittle
3,436 Wanda Cagle Gray 2,626 Chief Magistrate Judge Tom Moseley 25,525 Paul Nally 8,040 State House, District 15 Paul Battles 13,515 Lelia Benham 4,694 Amendment 1 (Charter Schools) Amendment 2 Yes     
18,839 20,267 No         
15,673 12,620

Updated 12 a.m.

The unofficial vote count is complete. Provisional ballots yet to be counted total 116.

Updated 8 p.m.

Find out what's happening in Cartersvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

School board candidate Fred Kittle is cautiously optimistic he will win the District 4 seat in Bartow, based on early and unofficial results, according to State Sen. Barry Loudermilk, who is at the Bartow GOP's watch party in Cartersville.

Loudermilk said an early, unofficial count from the Euharlee precinct indicates Kittle got 614 votes and incumbent Independent Wanda Cagle Gray, 499 votes.

Find out what's happening in Cartersvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Updated 5:40 p.m.

Elections Supervisor Joseph Kirk had a one-word answer when asked about Bartow County's voter turnout so far: BIG. He indicated turnout at the polls could be much higher than the 50 percent he had predicted.

"We've been busy all day verifying voters who haven't voted in a while and things like that," he said.

About 24 percent of Bartow's 60,039 registered voters cast early ballots.

Updated 3 p.m.

Lines and a wait marked voting in Cartersville early this morning, but poll workers report only a steady flow of voters since.

When the polls opened at 7 a.m., a line formed at Cartersville's West precinct at the Civic Center and voters had about a 30-minute wait, poll manager Nathan Eberhart said. The flow of voters since about 10 a.m., Eberhart described as "steady."

Bartow County's Zena Drive and Cassville precincts also saw lines of voters form early this morning and steady streams of voters since, according to respective managers Rudy Dodson and Ralph Lowe. At the Cassville precinct, Elections officials used a large gym instead of a smaller room that normally houses voting machines, according to Lowe. He said officials did so expecting a big turnout.

Elections Supervisor Joseph Kirk told The Daily Tribune News he expected a similar turnout to that of 2008, which was 71 percent. Nearly 72 percent of Bartow voters opted for then Republican candidate John McCain.

Today, Cartersville Patch caught up with local residents and owners of Bartow Precast Michael and Justine Tidwell at the Civic Center. They were headed to cast ballots for Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney.

Michael Tidwell said he feels Romney has the insight American small business owners need. "Small businesses are the biggest employer in the nation and important to the overall economy and the everyday employee," he said.

The race for president was the most important election issue for another Cartersville man, who voted at the Zena Drive precinct then tossed his voting sticker in the trash. He declined to give his name or be photographed, but said he voted today mainly because President Barack Obama and Romney have very different positions on moral issues.

Original Report

Election Day 2012 is here and more than 26 percent of Bartow County's 60,039 registered voters have already cast ballots.

Elections and Voter Registration spokesman Mary Milam said 14,443, or 24 percent of registered voters and about 30 percent of Bartow's 49,955 active voters, took advantage of three weeks of advance voting.

The county issued 1,856 mail-in ballots, and Monday afternoon had received 1,419 or 76 percent of those. Additional mail-in ballots also were being processed, Milam said.

In 2008, Bartow County voters overwhelmingly chose the Republican candidate for president and a portion elected an uncontested school board candidate, Wanda Cagle Gray, a former Republican running as an independent.

Now in 2012, Gray, who represents District 4 on the Bartow County school board, faces an opponent backed by the Bartow County Republican Party, Fred Kittle.

Today's school board vote follows controversy leading up to the July special election of District 5 rep Anna Sullivan, allegations of ethics violations and budget woes. 

Two other local races also are on the ballot.

Following the arrests of a former magistrate court judge and employee, Bartow voters are set to decide between two contenders for chief magistrate judge—longtime incumbent Republican Tom Moseley and Democratic challenger Paul Nally.

Democrat Lelia Benham is challenging incumbent State Rep. Paul Battles, R-Cartersville, who ran unopposed in 2008 and garnered 68 percent of the votes in the 2010 primary against fellow Republican Hayden Collins.

Nearly 72 percent of Bartow's then 50,898 registered voters chose Republican presidential candidate John McCain in 2008, compared to nearly 27 percent who voted for President Barack Obama. About 1 percent went to Libertarian candidate Bobb Barr, a longtime Congressman from Georgia.

Stay with Cartersville Patch all day as we update this article with news and information from the polls and live elections results, beginning at 7 p.m. 

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For more on elections, visit our dedicated section: Elections: Participate in 2012.


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