Few vote early in special election to fill David Scott’s seat

There are 538,189 active voters in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, yet just 8,695 voted by Thursday night in the special election to complete late U.S. Rep. David Scott’s term.

According to state voting data, that puts turnout at 1.6% with early voting ending on Friday and Election Day Tuesday.

The county with the lowest turnout is Gwinnett at 1%. That could be a bad sign for Everton Blair, the former Gwinnett County School Board chairman who needs a strong turnout from his home county in order to rise to the top of the five-person contest.

ExploreSix candidates, including David Scott’s daughter, compete to finish his term

“It is concerning, but I think there is still time,” Blair said. “It is a summer election, and it’s the only thing on the ballot. And there’s a lot of competing priorities for folks right now. And so, I do think it is harder to get people to pay attention to this race.”

David Scott died on April 22 just hours after casting votes on the House floor. The special election underway will determine who fills his seat through January. Another election is set for November where the winner will serve a full two-year term.

The other Democrats running in the special election are Scott’s daughter Marcye Scott and Carlos Moore, an attorney who once served as a judge in Mississippi before he was barred from the bench.

Another Democrat, perennial Henry County candidate Tony Brown, was disqualified and any votes cast for him will not be counted. Local news outlet On Common Ground reported that the check he used to pay qualifying fees bounced.

ExploreU.S. House District 13: Who is running to finish David Scott’s term

Two Republicans are also on the special election ballot: Caesar Gonzales, who lost to David Scott in the 2020 general election, and Fayth Park, a political newcomer running on a conservative values platform.

Voters in the heavily Democratic district will choose among all of the candidates regardless of party. If no one receives more than half the votes, the top two will advance to an Aug. 25 runoff.

This is the third week of early voting, but counties have fewer polling sites compared with the primary election and runoff.

Marcye Scott said that she is attending every event she can while also racking up endorsements from local elected officials.

Scott said the parts of the district where her father had the deepest ties are the counties were turnout is most robust.

“We’re talking Henry County, Clayton County, Rockdale and Newton,” she said. “I mean, they’re coming out strong with those numbers, and I’ve spent a lot of time with there.”

Since the U.S. House takes all of August and October off, in addition to breaks for holidays, the eventual winner is expected to see only about nine weeks of action at the Capitol.

But during that time, weighty issues will be considered on the House floor like government funding, military policy, aid to farmers and the war with Iran. Republicans hold just a slim majority, and because this race is likely to be won by a Democrat, the winner could help the party as it tries to block GOP-backed legislation.