They are calling it the Peanut Poll, and it’s Georgia’s latest bid for more presidential love this election season.
The daily measure of popularity at the Georgia National Fair is aimed at drawing more candidates (or at least their supporters) to Georgia over the next two weeks. And the flexible rules — attendees can cast their peanuts multiple times — is an attempt to get Georgians more interested in the race.
“The road to the White House goes through Perry,” Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp said. “And it’s paved with peanut shells.”
Despite the pithy quote, so far none of the candidates have RSVPed. But Kemp said he hopes the “last-minute idea” this October swells by next year into a must-attend event for the nominees from both parties.
It’s modeled after the attention-grabbing Corn Caucus at the Iowa State Fair, which this year gave a victory to Republican front-runner Donald Trump. Attendees in Iowa place kernels of corn in jars featuring each candidate, and anyone is allowed to vote.
Already, there’s anecdotal evidence that Georgia’s other big presidential push — the regional “SEC primary” on March 1 — has attracted more attention for the Peach State.
Most of the top-tier candidates have made multiple visits to Georgia, and many are holding rallies and campaign events as well as the usual closed-door fundraisers they long held here.
In Perry, Kemp’s office set up about 20 mason jars — one for each big-party candidate, two “undecideds” for each party, and a bucket for Vice President Joe Biden just in case he gets in the race.
Each voter gets one peanut to place in the jar of the candidate of his or her choice. At 5 p.m. each day of the fair, which runs until Oct. 18, Kemp will enlist a special guest to announce the daily tally.
Gov. Nathan Deal, who came to Perry to review the poll, deadpanned that the “results may probably be more accurate than some of the polls we’ve seen coming out of the media.”
If that’s the case, then Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina should be excited. Martha Sullivan, a retired educator from Savannah, said she drove three hours Thursday to lodge the first legume in the poll for her favorite contender.
“I want her to be the first woman president,” she said. “And I wish she’d come to the fair. I’d go anywhere to see her.”
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