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Recount in offing for DA’s race; Ballard wins by slim margin over McBroom

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

If Georgia law doesn’t require a recount due to the small margin, incumbent District Attorney Bill McBroom said Thursday that he would ask for one in his race.

With military ballots and a few others yet to be counted, McBroom was defeated by Fayette attorney Scott Ballard 13,108 to 12,963 among the four counties in the Griffin Judicial Circuit, including Fayette, Spalding, Pike and Upson. There aren’t enough outstanding ballots to make the swing favor McBroom.

Fayette voters played the big role for Ballard, as he outpaced McBroom 10,149 to 5,703 locally with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

McBroom said he wanted the recount in recognition of all the hard work of his supporters. Ballard said he would have done the exact same thing had their roles been reversed.

“You’ve got people who worked so hard for you and go around door to door,” McBroom said.

McBroom said he would do everything he could to ease the transition for Ballard, who plans to interview each employee of the office one-on-one before making any personnel decisions.

“I really appreciate that from him,” McBroom said. “I think it’s very nice of him to do that. ... I really do wish him well.”

Due to the four malfunctioning cards from voter machines, both candidates had to go to bed late Tuesday night, or early Wednesday morning, knowing how close the race was without a decisive winner.

Ballard got the news of the victory at his law office Wednesday just before noon. He was very thankful for the support of Fayette residents in particular.

“I had help from a group of about 30 or 40 people that just went door to door and did everything you asked them to,” Ballard said. “It’s so humbling to see so many people go out and work for you, not for pay but because they believe in you.”

Ballard also noted that at least 60 people displayed magnetic signs supporting him on their vehicles. There are very few people Ballard said he would go to that length for.

“I really needed every vote I can get, apparently,” Ballard said. “You look at something small somebody did for you that might have gotten five votes and that was very critical.”

Ballard has to get his law practice in order as he has to take care of all his felony caseload as a private attorney before being sworn in as DA January 1.

Ballard said the one-on-one interview process with McBroom’s current employees was important.

“That way I can get to know them and they can get to know me ... get to know whether they would like to work for me,” Ballard said.