Magistrate race, ESPLOST on Lamar County ballots today

Lamar County voters go to the polls today to cast ballots in a special election to select a chief magistrate judge and determine whether a one percent sales tax to benefit the local school system will continue to be collected.The magistrate race was necessitated by the death last year of Judge Karen Rhyne Henson. Four candidates are seeking the post. They are (in alphabetical order) Brutz English, Paul Kunst, Jeff Mason and Shannon Williamson.The ESPLOST is designed to raise $13.2 million for the school system.Early voting ended Friday at noon. At that point, elections supervisor Anita Reid and her staff had served 1003 early voters. They also mailed out 109 absentee ballots of which 72 had been returned at press time Monday.Polling places are open throughout the county today from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Those polling places are District 1: Barnesville library; District 2A: Parker Branch fire station; District 2B: Senior Citizens Center; District 2C: Redbone Community House; District 3: Lamar County Service Center; and District 4: Milner library.For up to the minute local results tonight, monitor barnesville.com.