Metro Atlanta polls get final check on election eve

County elections officials set up voting machines Monday, checked the power connections and made last-minute preparations for Tuesday’s historic presidential election.

“We’ve been setting up machines all day,” said Robert Quigley, Cobb County spokesman.

“We extend the legs, turn them right-side up, make sure they have power.”

Last-minute decisions about Election Day came early Monday as elections boards in Fulton and Clayton counties decided not to seek permission to extend polling hours. The boards said that any voter in line by 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

“We project all voters will have a reasonable opportunity to cast their ballots,” said Justine Boyd, chairwoman of Fulton’s board. She added that voters can expect a wait time of two hours, minimum.

“We do ask voters to be patient,” Boyd said. “We will have challenges with our computers.”

DeKalb predicted one-hour waits, except at rush hours, and Gwinnett officials said they aim to get voters in and out in less than two hours.

“I think people are going to have to wait, but not like they did in advance voting,” Gwinnett County spokesman Joe Sorenson said. “It would not surprise me if we have long waits tomorrow night as people get off work,” he said.

Cobb expects to see a “positive impact” on Election Day because of the high number of early voters. “We’re well prepared,” Quigley said.

More than 15,000 poll workers will staff over 3,000 voting precincts on Election Day, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Matt Carrothers, spokesman for Secretary of State Karen Handel, said the fact that so many Georgians voted early bodes well for Election Day.

He said Handel “feels confident that counties will manage an efficient election process.”

State elections board member Randy Evans worried about the speed of returns after the polls close. He said that if the election is tight, Georgians may not know the results for days. That’s because long lines may cause the polls to stay open later and thus delay the returns until very late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning, he said.

The large number of paper absentee ballots that must be counted could also delay the process, Evans warned.

Despite concerns about long lines at the polls, members of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections voted unanimously not to seek permission to extend hours, saying that they think the number of voting machines per person is sufficient to handle the load.

Fulton County has one voting machine for every 175 to 185 registered voters who have not voted yet, assuming a 90 percent turnout. The county had a turnout of 26 percent during early voting.

Clayton has more than 500 voting machines that will be distributed among 58 precincts. County elections director Annie Bright said she believes that’s enough to accommodate voters.

Fulton and Clayton were the only counties considering expanded voting hours on Tuesday.

Most counties allocated voting machines to precincts based on the size of the precinct: the larger the precinct, the more machines, county elections officials said.

In Gwinnett County, voting machines were allocated to precincts based on voter registration numbers from September, county spokesman Sorenson said. The voting machines were loaded with ballot information for each precinct and tested starting Sept. 15 through the first week of October, he said. Gwinnett did not redistribute voting machines in response to advanced voting turnout or other projections, he said.

“We decided not to adjust in advance, but to see where we have issues on Election Day,” he said.

— Staff writer Megan Matteucci contributed to this article.