MACON, Ga. — Voters in central Georgia headed to the polls to vote in the 2024 Primary election on Tuesday.
The May primary sets the stage for the November election, narrowing down the field of qualifying candidates so that only one from each party is up for election.
It's important that you make sure to vote at your assigned precinct and check if your location's changed.
If you have to take time off work to vote, excuse slips are available at the precincts.
If no candidate manages to pass the 50% vote threshold needed to win the race outright on election day, the top two finishers will face off again in a runoff election, which is scheduled for June 18.
Refresh often for live updates below.
Live Updates
11:30 p.m.: It's a celebratory atmosphere at the headquarters of recently re-elected Macon-Bibb mayor Lester Miller.
11:27 p.m.: District 2 Macon Water Authority runner-up Marshall Talley officially confirmed his decision to ask for a recount. Talley finished with 1,902 votes, one vote behind incumbent Desmond Brown.
11:00 p.m.: Bibb County Sheriff David Davis secured another four years in office after avoiding a run-off. With 61% of the vote and all precincts reporting, Davis secured more than 6,000 votes over his closest competitor, DeAndre Hall. Hall secured 17% of the vote.
10:46 p.m.: McRae Police Chief Glenn Giles ousted incumbent sheriff Randy Rigdon in race for Wheeler County sheriff. Giles secured 56% (507 votes) and Randy Rigdon secured 44% (398 votes).
10:19 p.m.: Macon-Bibb mayor Lester Miller has secured another four years in office after warding office a challenge from Shekita Maxwell. With 97% of the vote in, Miller has 86% and 15,755 votes. That is nearly 13,250 more votes than Maxwell with only one more precinct left.
10:11 p.m.: Andrew Pinson, an incumbent Supreme Court justice, warded off a challenge from former U.S. Rep. John Barrow. Barrow focused his campaign on abortion issues.
10:08 p.m.: The Associated Press calls Lexy Doherty as the projected Democratic nominee for Georgia's 10th Congressional District. She will face off against incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Collins, who was first elected in 2023.
10:04 p.m.: Joel Cochran has been reelected sheriff of Washington County in a landslide victory. He secured 82% of the vote in the Democratic primary (2,537 votes) against Henry Tanner's 18% of the vote (551 votes). There is no candidate running for Republican nomination.
9:58 p.m.: The Associated Press is projecting the Republican primary for Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District will head to a run-off, with Wayne Johnson and Chuck Hand facing off on June 18. Johnson received 44.4% and Hand received 31.1% of the vote. Whoever wins this race will take on Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop. He's served in Congress since 1993.
9:50 p.m.: Matt Moulton is the Republican nomination for Houston County sheriff, securing 57% of the vote and facing off against Democrat Arthur Harris. District Attorney Will Kendall secured second place with 25% of the vote followed by Slate Simons with 16%. Jimmy Dunn secured 2% of the vote. They are attempting to take the helm of the Houston County Sheriff's Office after the five-century tenure of Cullen Talton, who announced he was not running for reelection.
9:40 p.m.: Incumbent Telfair County Sheriff Sim Davidson warded off a challenge from former sheriff Chris Steverson. Davidson secured just vote 63% of the vote with 1,587 votes to Steverson's 919. Davidson just finished off his first term and Steverson was sheriff from 2013 to 2020.
9:35 p.m.: The Associated Press projects Elizabeth Johnson will be the democratic nominee for Georgia's 12th U.S. House District. She’ll be facing off against Republican Rep. Rick Allen, who has served in the U.S. House since 2015.
9:24 p.m.: Wonder how many votes were cast during the primary election? Gabriel Sterling with the secretary of state's office says they "are on a path to finish up at north of 1.2 million votes being cast," he said on social media.
9:10 p.m.: A single vote determined the race for Chief Magistrate in Crisp County, but under Georgia law, that means the election may not be over yet. George Holmes received 944 votes and Brandon Rivers received 943. Under Georgia law, any second-place candidate who loses by under 0.5% can call for a recount, so Rivers can theoretically call for recount.
9 p.m.: With 35% of the vote counted, Lt. Matt Moulton is currently in the lead for the Republican nomination for Houston County Sheriff. Moulton has 5,123 votes with 6 out 17 precincts reporting, securing 58% of the vote so far. That is roughly 3,000 votes ahead of District Attorney Will Kendall, with 2,197 votes and 25% of ballots casts. Simons has 15% of the vote and Dunn has 2%. Whoever wins will face Democrat Arthur Harris.
8:40 p.m.: The Associated Press projects Darrius Butler as the democratic nominee for the 8th Congressional District. Butler is going to face long-time Central Georgia Republican Congressman Austin Scott, who has represented parts of Central Georgia since 2011.
8:19 p.m.: Sheriff David Davis and Mayor Lester Miller came into election day with significant leads from early voting. Out of roughly 5,000 votes, Davis has just under 65% of the vote with DeAndre Hall trailing in second with roughly 15.5% of the vote. Out of just under 6,500 votes, Miller has about 86% of early votes cast.
8:10 p.m.: Pulaski County Sheriff Danny Brannen was ousted from his position after Gov. Brian Kemp's office opened an investigation into his fitness for office back in 2023. The board of elections says Wayne Wiley and Terry Hood are heading to a run-off. They'll be back on the ballot on June 18. Wiley secured 42.84% of the vote and Hood secured 27.27%, the board of elections reports. Brannen only secured 8.37% of the vote.
8:05 p.m.: The Macon-Bibb Board of Elections says the vote tabulation is starting, but they report turn out is lower than 2020.
8 p.m. | Election totals are trickling in from various board of elections across the area. You can following along with those results as they come in here.
7:30 p.m. | AP calls the Fulton County District Attorney Race, with Fani Willis projected to win the Democratic primary in her bid for re-election. Lucy McBath and Scott McAfee were also called in their separate races. McBath for Congressional District 6 and McAfee for Fulton County Superior Court.
7:17 p.m. | Gabriel Sterling, with the Secretary of State's Office, posted on social media that two polls are staying open late per judicial order.
East Vernon Baptist Church in Troup County will stay open until 9 p.m. A power pole was knocked down and blocked access at this location. Also, the Trion polling location in Chattooga County will stay open at 7:30 p.m., when there was a power outage that slowed but did not stop voting.
7:00 p.m. | Polls are closed around Central Georgia
6:45 p.m. | One million voters.
That's how many people are projected to have voted in the Georgia primary elections.
With that anticipated number of voters, Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger joked that "we love short lines in Georgia," touting that wait times at polls were under one minute throughout Election Day.
6:32 p.m. | The Secretary of State said that one polling location in Troup County is running off of battery power after a tractor-trailer knocked out its electricity. Ballots are still being cast at that precinct, and voting is still running smoothly.
2:30 p.m. | Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the Georgia Secretary of State Office, spoke to reporters after the state's My Voter webpage went down for roughly 45 minutes. He said traffic to the site had overwhelmed the website's capacity. The site allows voters to check their registration and find their polling place. However, he said it had since been addressed and was working fine by the afternoon. You can read more here:
7:00 a.m. | Polls open around central Georgia.
You can keep up with live results below:
If you want live results, you can check here.
For more information on where to go and how to vote, you can visit 13WMAZ's election guide here.