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vance, voters had four days to cast early ballots ahead of the July 13 runoff election. Early voting will be held 8:30 a.m. through 5 p.m. only at county board of election offices, but voters will cast ballots at their designated precincts on Election Day.

In the runoff election on June 15, voting was light across District 156, resulting in a razor-thin margin between Republican candidates Leesa Hogan of Toombs County and Wally Sapp of Appling County. Hagan, an online consulting firm owner, and Sapp, a car dealer, came within 1 percentage point of each other, but neither received a majority of the nearly 5,000 votes cast to avoid a runoff. Hagan received 43% of the vote while Sapp garnered 42% of the balloting.

The lone Democrat in the race, Wright Gres of Appling County, finished third in the race with 15% of the total vote across the District. In addition to Toombs and Appling count ies, the District also includes Montgomery and Jeff Davis counties.

The light turnout for the June 15 Election left local officials worried about the outcome of the runoff election. While it is the largest county in the District, Toombs County lagged far behind other parts of the District for voter turnout.

“As the largest county in the District, we should have a say about who our state representative is going to be. We lose our voice if we don’t vote,” said Toombs County Commissioner Wendell Dixon.