Price reminds supporters to vote - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

A Dougherty school board candidate is reminding her supporters to click on her name on the ballot.

Lane Price says even though her opponent's name isn't on the ballot, his supporters will write in his name.

That's why, she says, it's critical for her supporters to make sure they cast a ballot for her. How do supporters of Lorenzo Heard make sure their vote counts?

A write-in candidate wants to get elected they are responsible for making that known because they don't appear on the ballot but in this case a candidate for school board is making sure people don't skip over her name because they assume she is the only one in the race.

It's a type of race folks in Dougherty County aren't used to seeing on the ballot.

"This is the first time I can recall since I've been on the board of elections that we have had a local write in candidate for any race," said Alan Pendelton, Board of Elections Chairman.

Reverend Lorenzo Heard is a certified write-in candidate, going up against Democrat Lane Price for the at-large seat on the school board. 

He sued after the board of elections ruled he did not qualify properly to get his name on the ballot as an independent, but he later dropped the suit.

"It's an unusual case and it is very rare," said Pendeleton.

If you want your vote to count, you need to make sure you vote properly.

"To skip the candidate on the ballot is in essence a vote for the other party," said Pendelton.

Voters will only see Lane Price's name listed, but her campaign is on a mission to let her supporters know they shouldn't skip over her name.

"A lot of people especially younger people think if I don't check it doesn't matter, she doesn't have anyone running against her but that's not true we have an aggressively active person running as a write in," said Deidra Langstaff, Campaign Coordinator for Lane Price.

They hope that by telephone calls, mailers, and other means voters will get the message before they head to the polls.

"If you have a particular candidate that you want to win, you must check their name or write their name, it's very important you do that," said Langstaff.

As a certified write-in candidate, Heard's name will be on sample ballots posted at precincts, but it won't appear on the voting machines.  If you want to vote for him, you have to click on write-in and then type in his name.

"If a voter comes to that race and they ask how do we do this, we can simply tell them to press write in," said Pendelton.

It doesn't have to be perfectly spelled, but it must be reasonably understood as a vote for Heard to count.

Election officials say they now expect those school board results to be available the same time as the rest of the results on Tuesday. Friday, they will add in the provisional ballots and military ballots, which shouldn't make a huge impact on who the winner will be.

Remember, Friday is the last day you can cast your ballots early.

There is no voting on Monday, the day before the elections.

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