Incumbents win four races here

Tuesday was a good day for incumbents on the Wayne County ballot.

Incumbent Chuck Moseley garnered more votes than his two opponents combined to avoid a runoff for the Republican nomination for sheriff.

Meanwhile, incumbent Keith Higgins will stay in the District Attorney’s Office, having defeated John B. Johnson in the GOP Primary.

Tina Moseley fended off a challenge from Tommie Weatherspoon to retain her seat on the Wayne County Board of Education.

And incumbent Jay Fulton will remain coroner after defeating Ridge Shefka in the GOP Primary.

Voter turnout in Wayne County was 25.5 percent (4,559 voters of 17,910 registered to vote).

In the sheriff’s race, Chuck Moseley received 2,548 votes (62.2 percent), in comparison with Donnie Ray’s 815 votes (19.9 percent) and Toby Cameron’s 732 votes (17.9 percent).

With no Democratic opposition, Moseley is the de facto sheriff-elect.

Higgins beat Johnson 12,695-7,709 (62.2 percent to 37.8 percent) districtwide to remain in office—though, in Wayne voting, Johnson, a local resident, outpolled Higgins 2,441-1,509 (61.8 percent to 38.2 percent).

Higgins will also face no Democratic opposition in the General Election.

In the nonpartisan race for District 5 school board member, Tina Moseley defeated Weatherspoon 662-228 (74.4 percent to 25.6 percent).

Of her win, she said Wednesday morning, “I’m excited to continue the work we’ve started here and look forward to serving our school system again.”

And Fulton defeated Shekfa 2,935-1,054 (73.6 percent to 26.4 percent) and will face no Democratic opposition in November.

In statewide nonpartisan races, incumbent Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson defeated John Barrow 55 percent to 45 percent, and Jeff Davis defeated Tabitha Ponder 57 percent to 43 percent for an open Court of Appeals seat. Wayne voters also favored Pinson over Barrow, 2,687-1,443 (65.1 percent to 34.9 percent), and Davis over Ponder, 2,891-923 (75.8 percent to 24.2 percent).

Various other candidates on the local ballot in the Georgia Primary Election and General Nonpartisan Election won without opposition.

They included Cary “Tater” Yarbrogh for the District 1 school board seat, which he has already been appointed to occupy for the rest of this year. (See story on page 1A.)

With one exception, voters in their respective primaries, both statewide and in Wayne County, responded affirmatively to all “straw poll” questions posed by the Georgia Republican and Democratic parties (eight on each primary ballot in Wayne County). The exception was the eighth GOP question, having to do with pandemic management.