Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

We realize that there’s a lot of animosity about the election right now, and it’s not just nationally. We know there are people in Troup County frustrated with both sides, regardless of whether they voted for Donald Trump or Joe Biden.

However, we’re sure everyone wants it to be over, and we moved closer toward that reality Saturday when Joe Biden was declared president-elect.

But we’re not here to get into all of that today. Rather, we’re here to tell all voters in Troup County to give themselves a pat on the back.

The overall voting turnout from last Friday is incredible. A total of 30,104 registered voters took part, which is 70 percent of all Troup County registered voters.

Trump received 18,146 votes overall, up about 2,500 from what he received in 2016. Biden received 11,585, which is almost 2,000 more than Hillary Clinton received in 2016.

According to the secretary of state’s website, voter turnout actually dropped a little when compared to 2016, when 74 percent of Troup voters participated.

However, we’ll take 70 percent every time.

That means seven out of every ten registered voters participated, which is huge for any election. It also, unfortunately, means that more than a quarter of registered voters sat out this election. With Georgia coming down to a little over 10,000 votes — and a recount possible — it’s interesting to consider that those votes would’ve really made a real difference.

With that said, we’re still extremely excited by this voter turnout, though we’d like to see it happen when there isn’t a presidential race on the ballot too.

Whether Democrat, Republican or independent, everyone should be proud of this community for the turnout it had last week.

Let’s make it happen again in January when two Senate run-offs figure to determine control of the U.S. Senate.