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Last day to early vote is Saturday

COLUMBUS—A runoff election will be held on Tuesday, June 23 with all Polk County polling locations open from 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

Early voting began on June 4 and will continue until this Saturday. Early voting can be done at the Polk County Board of Elections office only, located on the 2^nd floor of the Womack building in Columbus.

The run-off race is for the republican United States Congressional District 11.

The runoff election was originally scheduled for May 12, but was postponed by executive order of the state board of elections director earlier this year because of COVID-19.

The race is between Madison Cawthorn and Lynda Bennett .

Statewide, Bennett received 20,606 votes, or 22.72 percent compared to Cawthorn’s 18,481 votes, or 20.38 percent. Polk County voters chose Cawthorn over Bennett during the March 3 primary, with Cawthorn receiving 657 Polk County votes, or 30.12 percent over Bennett’s 406 Polk County votes, or 18.62 percent.

Registered republican voters are eligible to vote in the runoff, as well as unaffiliated voters who did not choose a democrat ballot during the March primary.

The second primary is limited to voters in the 11^th Congressional District, which now includes Polk County and the other 15 western counties and half of Rutherford County.

Any 11^th District Republican who was registered to vote on March 3 will be eligible to vote in the runoff as well as Unaffiliated voters registered to vote on March 3 and who requested a republican ballot. Unaffiliated voters who are registered and who did not vote on March 3 can also vote in Tuesday’s runoff.

Any unaffiliated voters who requested a ballot other than the republican ballot in March are not eligible to vote in the runoff, or are voters who are registered with other parties, such as democrats or libertarians.