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Absentee ballots available now

POLK COUNTY—The Polk County Board of Elections has set the dates for early voting for the 2020 election.

The board met on July 13 virtually by Zoom and set the dates for one stop early voting.

Early voting will be from Oct. 15-31 this year. The board decided to set the dates similar to past elections. Early voting will be done at the Polk County Board of Elections Office, located on the 2^nd floor of the Womack building in Columbus. The office will be open from 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday on those dates as well as on Saturdays Oct. 17, 24 and 31 from 8 a.m. -3 p.m.

Board of Elections members say they are preparing for a higher than average turnout this year.

Absentee ballots can be requested now and will go out on Sept. 4.

This year’s general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 3, when all 7 polling places will be open in Polk County.

This year’s election is a presidential election, when voters will be choosing between U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and challenger Joe Biden (D).

Locally, Polk County residents will be choosing 3 county commissioners out of 4 candidates.

The seats of Ray Gasperson (D), Myron Yoder (R) and Jake Johnson (R) are up for re-election. Johnson resigned last summer after being appointed as a state representative following the resignation of Cody Henson. The county appointed David Moore (R) to fill Johnson’s seat. Moore will is running for election in order to retain the seat.

Gasperson, Moore and Yoder all filed for re-election as well as newcomer Andre Overholt (R) for the commissioner seats.

The Polk County Register of Deeds is also up for re-election, currently held by Sheila Whitmire (R), who has filed for re-election. Whitmire has no challengers.

There will also be open Polk County School Board seats open this year, as well as Polk County Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor seats.

Seats on the school board open next year include Saluda, Tryon, White Oak and Columbus. Newcomer Sara Bell has filed for the Saluda seat currently held by Rhonda Corley with no challengers; incumbent Rick Covil filed for the Tryon seat with no challengers; incumbent Cindy Allen filed for the White Oak seat with no challengers and Danielle Gibbs filed for the Columbus seat along with Robbie Price. Gibbs was appointed to fill the open seat last year by then chairman Geoff Tennant, who passed away.