By Samantha Sinclair, Julianne Akers and Zach Taylor
Early voting in Georgia for the 2024 presidential election and local races began on Tuesday, and Habersham voters were ready.
“We’re doing really good today,” Habersham South precinct elections manager Derek LaPerriere said. “This morning, we had a line of probably 20 to 30 people waiting to vote.”
Supervisor of Elections Laurel Ellison said that by 3:30 p.m. over 1,445 voters had cast ballots in Habersham County.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, as of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, about 72,000 Georgians already had cast their ballots on the first day of the early voting period. By the end of the day, that number is expected to far surpass the 136,000 who voted on the first day of early voting ahead of the last presidential election four years ago.
“It looks like it’s going to be a record breaker for the first day of early voting,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said.
Early voting for the General Election continues through Nov. 1.
There are two locations available for early voting in Habersham County — the Habersham County Elections and Registration Office in Cornelia, and the Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center in Clarkesville – but only the elections office is available for voting initially.
“When we moved our office to Cornelia and built a precinct within our building, we put all three early/advance voting weeks back in our office,” Ellison said.
She noted prior to 2020, all three weeks of early voting were always in the elections office. Their move into the county administration office, in addition to social distancing needed during the pandemic, caused the elections office to temporarily move early voting to the aquatics center to allow for more space.
Voting takes place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays Oct. 15 through Oct. 25 at the elections and registration office only.
Saturday voting takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 19 at the elections office, and on Oct. 26 at both the elections office and aquatic center.
On the final week of early voting, Oct. 28-Nov. 1, voters may vote at either location 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
All eligible voters may vote at either location.
Voting on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, will take place at assigned precincts 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voters may check their poll location and see their sample ballot at the My Voter Page, mvp.sos.ga.gov. Sample ballots are also available in this week’s paper and at the elections office. Voters who cannot vote in person have until Oct. 25 to request an absentee ballot. The election not only includes the presidential race, but decisions on U.S. House and State Senate and House races.
County-wide decisions include several local offices, including the sheriff and board of education seats.
The only contested local race is the City of Baldwin council seat for Post 2. Mark Mullinax and Nancy Lehman will be the only opponents vying for the seat.
For details, contact the elections office at 706-839-0170.
Dave Williams of Capitol Beat News Service contributed to this report.