High temperatures did not keep Rossville citizens from their civic duty during the lunch hour on Tuesday, July 31.

“We started off real good until the storm hit this morning,” Rossville precinct manager Jim Cole said. “The flow of voters picked back up after 9 a.m. and has been off-and-on ever since.”

Cole increased the number of electronic voting machines from 10 to 15 to help keep the lines short, especially for those who were expected to vote from 5-7 p.m., during the final two hours of Election Day and after the typical workday ends.

The Rossville precinct has 6,150 registered voters and 585 of those citizens had already voted early in the primary. As of 2 p.m., there were 349 ballots cast at the Rossville Civic Center, according to Cole.

In a random exit poll, voters were asked,“Is there a particular race or office that was important to you in voting today?”

The most important race for nearly half of 30 Rossville citizens polled was for the county sheriff’s seat, with eight of the 14 people freely stating their support for incumbent sheriff Steve Wilson.

One elderly couple wishing to remain anonymous responded to the exit-polling question by saying, “We voted against everyone (incumbent) that is in there now. We are just not happy with any of them.”

A handful of people mentioned opposition to the proposed TSPLOST tax increase.

“I really can’t see what (TSPLOST) is going to do for Rossville,” John Brock said.

A few other citizens were dismayed to see a lack of Republican challengers to the unopposed incumbent state judge seats.

Voting appeared to go smoothly except for one small snafu.

Traditionally in Rossville, supporters of each candidate have parked across McFarland Avenue in the Peerless Mill parking lot to maintain the necessary 150 feet from the voting precinct.

A campaign supporter was set up on the eastern side of the road which is near the parking lot for Rossville City Hall and the civic center. Cole was uncertain if the spot was in compliance with the distance requirement and the supporter challenged him to have it measured.

Cole notified the county election office and an official verified that the supporter was 165 feet from the entrance. This supporter had yard signs for Christy Anderson, Billy Mullinax, Steve Wilson, and Bruce Coker near the road’s intersection.