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DEL.ICIO.USSome Fulton sites open late, extend hours
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some Fulton County polling sites are expected to remain open later than 7 p.m . Tuesday because of delays caused by machine glitches and facility access problems.
County elections officials estimate about 25 percent of Fulton’s 357 polling sites opened late for some reason.
The delays in opening ranged from 5 to 25 minutes, Voter Education Coordinator Al Hanson said. But all locations were fully operational by 7:30 a.m., a half-hour after polls were scheduled to open.
Affected polling sites will offer extended hours, though Hanson couldn’t provide an exact number or locations.
Election officials said they were preparing to seek court permission to extend the operating hours at the polls. Hanson said he was certain the county would receive approval.
“Polls will be open late,” Hanson said. “We’re going to extend the time to make up for the lost time.”
Most of the problems had to do with the new ExpressPoll voter verification system, which precincts in many metro Atlanta counties are using for the first time.
The system lets poll workers identify voters electronically instead of manually from computer lists, which takes significantly more time. ExpressPoll takes less than a minute.
At some locations, ExpressPoll laptops initially weren’t in sync requiring officials to reboot the touch-screen system at the affected polling sites, Hanson said.
“This is new to voters here in Fulton County,” he added. “The poll workers did go through ExpressPoll training, but it was a very short time frame.”Despite the glitches, ExpressPoll has reduced the verfication time significantly by providing poll workers one-touch access to voter information, Hanson said.
Access to voting locations for poll workers was another problem.
Facility representives showed up late to some sites, giving poll workers a late start.
“If they are runing late, that’s going to delay our process for getting in to set up the polls,” Hanson said.
The problems, though resolved early, prompted complaints from voters such as Janice Mitchell.
Mitchell said the doors didn’t open at south Fulton’s Love T. Nolan Elementary School until 7:15 a.m.
Poll workers, she added, wouldn’t let more than eight voters in at a time. Both situations caused a line to form and forced some who couldn’t wait to go on to work.
“I was just there,” Mitchell said. “It was a mess. Everytime we vote there it’s always a problem.”
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