Columbia County manager urges higher turnout, rebuts ballot‑tampering claims after tight chair race

County Manager Scott Johnson urged residents to take part in local elections and defended Columbia County’s election processes in a County Compass podcast episode focused on the May 19 election. He said the county had 113,117 registered voters and roughly 32,900 ballots were cast, a turnout of about 29.1 percent, and noted a county chair race was decided by just 109 votes.

Johnson emphasized that the county administers elections as a political subdivision of the state and must follow state rules on ballots, hours and equipment. “On election day, our polls opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 7 p.m.,” he said, describing the pre‑dawn work to set up machines and the coordination needed to secure equipment across multiple polling sites.

Johnson praised the county’s Board of Elections leadership and long‑serving staff, naming executive director Nancy Garrett and thanking poll workers who handle long 12‑ to 14‑hour days. He said staff coordinate with other county departments and sometimes rent transport trucks to move equipment to polling places.

About voting access, Johnson noted multiple early‑voting sites and Saturday voting options and said Columbia County uses a paper ballot system that creates a paper trail to be accounted for during counting. “Every vote truly does count,” he said, urging people not to assume primaries are unimportant and reminding listeners that Georgia law requires a candidate to receive 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a runoff.

Addressing recent social media claims that ballots had been tampered with, Johnson called the accusations “absolutely ridiculous” and outlined the visible safeguards in the county’s tally room, including the presence of party poll watchers and members of the press. He said about 697 absentee ballots were counted and that absentee ballots proved decisive in the close chair contest between Lisonbee Couch and Gary Jones. “There are no extra ballots,” he said, reiterating his confidence in the staff and process.

Johnson said he was present at the election facility while absentee results were posted but that he never entered the counting room or handled ballots, and that a superior court judge is kept on standby for election night if legal challenges arise.

He closed by thanking poll workers, volunteers and candidates, and provided contact information for county election questions, including a posted phone number for the Board of Elections and the county website for registration and precinct information. Johnson urged listeners to make a plan to vote and reminded them that runoffs, where required, would be scheduled in the coming weeks.