Seeing as how I worked at Ballard & Ballard for 2 years, and totally support Scott for DA (and think he is a very intelligent man) - AND seeing as how the secretary that worked at B&B before me was CONVICTED OF FELONY CHARGES after stealing from the firm for 8 years, I would have to guess YOUR friend is the felon. Not a very trustworthy source. I think you should choose your friends more wisely!
Beyond that, if you asked ANY employee of the Griffin Judicial Circuit DA's office who they were voting for - it was hands down Scott Ballard. Don't think it was for job security, either - anyone who worked with or around Rudjard didn't like him.

Do you know how many people have worked at Ballard and Ballard the last 10 years that weren't lawyers? And you choose the one person who was a felon and then also make the wild conclusion to think I am exactly like your boss Scott and am friendly with felons? I can definitely see why you are not an attorney with that kind of butchered logical reasoning.

Oh, I also have never vouched for the character of a convicted child molester either, so spare me any lecture on who I associate with since I already know who Scott not only associates with and thinks is salvageable, but who he also depends on to make a living.

But to be honest, no one stayed at B&B for very long except me, the felon lady, and her son.
So, maybe my argument should be that the person you know didn't work there long enough - or worked there too long ago - to make such assumptions about the Ballard family.
Either way, the point is, in MY opinion both Scott and Charles Ballard are men that are intelligent, trustworthy, and have integrity. I say that after working with them for 5 years.

if anyone described Ballard as "not very intelligent," they don't know any intelligent people. Ballard will show us another great 4 years in the circuit.

if anyone described Ballard as "not very intelligent," they don't know any intelligent people. Ballard will show us another great 4 years in the circuit.

I hear he is vindictive. Not good.

Most law enforcement agencies pay more than we do. That means if some of them quit, they will actually "git" a pay raise.

The only ones who will lose will be us. If we are short-staffed the naacp and their threats will win.

Looks like he is winning without a runoff. I can't wait for him to order the audit of seized drug funds and all equipment, a total slap in the face of Randall who made this a huge issue with the county and how just dadgum clean and accounted for everything was. Obviously, Hannah doesn't buy that BS any more than the commissioners did.

With him making that one of his first priorities as Sheriff, he is obviously distancing himself from his retiring boss and seems to be seeking his own path instead of "more of the same" which has started to bring down the SO the last several years.

Hope it's true...just have to wait and see!

Why do you think Randall supported him?

He supported Bruce Jerrrrrrrdan beyond 100%, even when it was dragging the department down. He also refused to get with the 21st century law enforcement. I'm not sure Randall's endorsement meant as much as the amount of money and effort Hannah put into winning. Hannah ran a very high-profile campaign and a pretty smart one.....give him the credit for being able to pull it off without even a runoff. Randall's endorsement definitely helped with some, but I think Hannah did most of the heavy lifting himself.

You seem to be implying that Randall endorsed Hannah because he thinks Hannah will do a loose audit and overlook irregularities that are found? Is that what you are saying or I am missing your point entirely?

They need 50% plus 1 to win.

Can Babb eek out a runoff and if so, can he win? I am not that familar with the race, but recently became interested

I hope that the Dunn, Wells, Pfeifer, Bost & Price crowd finally gets the message that arrogance, mean spirits and negativity are not qualities the Fayette County citizens are looking for. I bid all the winners well, but sure wish Barry Babb had done better. I suppose it was Randall's endorsement that did it, because most of the folks who know both of them well indicated they were voting for Babb. I remember that about 8 weeks ago, at breakfast at Chick-fil-a, I heard Randall say he was not planning on endorsing anybody, as long as Simmons did not win. I am wondering who voted for Simmons and Mindar, because I suppose I talked to over 50 people about the sheriff's race, and EVERY ONE of them were voting for either Babb or Hannah. Must be the company I keep.........

Do you think that Lee / Peter run-off is going to get?

And what made up Wingo's mighty win? Other than a decently run office and voters refusing to fund another pension, you can't tell me it was because of his charm. But, then again George stated running for re-election 3 years and 355 days ago.

Git,
The 1st precinct reporting was the advanced voting, or should have been. Those memory cards were locked away until 7, and then were ready to be uploaded immediately after the polls closed. (Or at least thats the way it should be working.) The next few precincts are usually those found within a mile of the elections' office.

I enjoy reading them to get a sence of who got the vote out. Advanced voting is increasing in popularity, and I see one day when an election will be decided by the time the advanced voting ends and not on the following Tuesday. (Although the counting doesn't start until the polls closes on Tuesday.)

The system will produce the precinct numbers for each election but not for a few days. Right now they are just loading the memory cards as fast as they can. To get the actual raw numbers broken down is going to take time, that the elections office doesn't have right now.

Thanks. Advanced makes sense.

I know exact precict results take a bit longer. I was hoping for 24 out of 38 just to get somewhat of a feel for numbers, etc.

http://www.fayettecountyga.gov/elections/results-1.htm...I've been checking it. It gives the break down I think you're looking for, but not the specific precinct.

That's where I normally look. I was being lazy and relying on the Citizen for cutting edge results. I suppose Dad is good, but he ain't that good.

So much for my predictions:)

Do you think the early voting is more representitive of the diehards that work campaigns? Or is it a balanced mix of every day voters?

That's where Rudjard is holding his election victory party. Of course, there are several other counties still to be decided, but its not looking so good for your "damn the torpedoes --sentence them all to death" law and order candidate.

lol... I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at the Tyrone Depot last night as the numbers rolled in to prove Fayette County is smart enough to know politician mumbo-jumbo when they see it. Thankfully they looked past Rudjard's attempt to sling dirt and stuck with the DA who WORKS for the circuit.
I'm sorry for the 5,000 of you who were suckered in by Rudjard's speeches - if you knew the man at all, you'd know better.
YEA for Scott!

Cheers! May he be tougher on the bad guys in his next 4 years of rule.

Since the elections are over - can you tell us your real name? Is it Rudjard Hayes??

No... I'm not RH. I'm just one of the concerned little peoples. I would like to remain somewhat anonymous for the moment. It's more fun this way for everyone. I'm hoping to expose myself at just the right moment. It'll be one of those Hey Ya'll... Watch This moments that I hope everyone will git a kick out of.

Congrats on your victory! Push Ballard hard on being tough on the bad guys..... Pleeeeezzzeeee!

LOL... How about you give us clues until you eventually reveal your name.
For starters - are you an attorney? If so, what kind of law do you practice?

My next guess for your identity is EDITED & WARNED for "outing" an anonymous poster by the way.

If there is any validity to your prior posts about Ballard, I guess you're lucky he was re-elected if you're really planning to "expose" yourself.

I'm not so sure anymore. It generally used to be that the absentee voting was a good indicator of the GOTV efforts of any given election or campaign. But with the popularity of advanced voting, I'd say the only demographic that you might not see there is . . . well I don't know. In the last Presidential Election, we had them lined up down the front of the building and down to the bottom of the stairs. So, its really hard to say anything about those demographics.

Advanced voting is still new enough that it's hard to put a finger on the make-up of the voters. During the Prez Primaries I believe every other voter was a first timer.

http://www.fayettecountyga.gov/elections/results-1.htm.

The County IT guys usually would sit waiting for the Elections people to download the current numbers and they would then immediately upload it right away. So these numbers are literally hot of the presses. The only delay is the short time to make the disk, hand it to the IT guy, and he then uploads it to the website.

Big night for him. Key and Wingo are coasting too.

Rudjard Hayes is one tough hombre, and he would have made a huge difference as our DA. The irony is that all of these old time multi-generation Fayette County people that voted for their distant (plea bargain king) cousin will lose the most when the crime completely destroys this county's real estate values. Ask some of the land owners north of Fayetteville. With Rudjard really scaring the South Metro criminals (kind of like the famous Sherriff Arpaio out in Arizona) I thought we could hold on for another decade or so.

Armed robbery of our Ruby Tuesday on a Sunday night? I am out of here! It was a spectacular place while it lasted.

Spectacular that is. I'm praying the housing market rebounds before I'm forced to split. Rudjard was a good candidate.... he had much to overcome with Scott's deep and old Fayette roots. I'm guessing that edge will cease to matter in two more election cycles.

I just got finished telling my wife that under normal circumstances Scott Ballard would be DA for life, except that in 2 more election cycles, a Democrat will be the DA here. I'm gone with the wind, baby!!

I think I can still make some money on my PTC house. Tough times are here on a number of fronts. I should have moved last year, but everybody realizes that now. We are all riding the crest of that pre-depression wave that is about to crash down hard. Batten down the hatches.

While Scott is protecting "What Is His" the rest of us will be fleeing from that purple dude. I just regret pouring so much money into my property over the years. Gosh, I'm going to miss this place.

Or the fact that so much negative stuff was throw out there. The DA's race became sort of like a mob mentality. The only thing you read or heard was the cries for severe punishment at every turn. So many of the figures and facts were just plain wrong, that some people I know, figured it out on their own, without me even trying to explain it to them.

The fact is, every single criminal case that the DA handles, stands and falls on its own. Every case is different. So when some people started talking about the need for a severe and harsh prosecutor, the rest of us just shook our heads and wondered what all the hub bub was about.

Again, I never had a case with Scott, on either side of the aisle, but I think he brought to the table some experience that will benefit the citizens of Fayette, over the "hang 'em high" mentality of his opponent. I shouldn't count Scott's eggs before they are hatched, but Fayette's numbers look pretty impressive so far.

This is such a cruel and sick joke. Rudjard simply revealed the horrifying stuff that Ballard did, and the Ballard Camp went ballistic screaming that Hayes was being negative. Cite an example of Hayes being negative - -this was nothing but a smear job on Hayes because he was acting like a DA SHOULD act - -as the people's defender, not a social worker for perverts.

As I said before, all of you out there that looked past Ballard's catastrophic weakness and voted for him as DA (because he is your 4th cousin or you played football with him in 1964) will pay a price. Criminals may be low life evil doers, but they are generally rational and do avoid places where they know they will end up locked away for life. Get ready for the tidal wave of armed robberies...they have just started.

I hope this very resounding victory will help those who need to understand that the voters (Pike, Spalding, Upson AND Fayette Counties) are not all related to Scott Ballard nor did they go to school with him. You can't use that pathetic excuse anymore. The voters have spoken.

I somewhat disagree with your analysis. But, at this point I think I can safely say Ballard will coast to a 2012 re-election. After that a candidate with it's picture on it's campaign sign will take him out.

Why aren't you hanging with characters at the chambers this year?

Another question Richard. If Dunn loses what will that do his desire to take over Westmoreland's seat in two? And which office (job) will Linda run for in 2010?

Hopefully Wells and Dunn will "git" real jobs.......ok, I crack myself up.

LOL real jobs???

How dare thee? (chuckle)