Bill would shorten early voting period

By Janel Davis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Some state lawmakers propose shortening the early voting period from 45 days to 21 days for all elections, a move proponents say would save money and unify laws across the board.

Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming, is the lead sponsor on the legislation, House Bill 92, which would also require polls to be open at least one Saturday during the early voting period.

The bill has bipartisan support: Democrats Howard Mosby of Atlanta and Keith Heard from Athens have signed on as sponsors.

“There was a concern with the seven weeks of early voting that the cost to hold the voting for that period was excessive for some counties, particularly the smaller counties," said Hamilton, chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, where the bill will be assigned. “And sometimes candidates listed at the beginning of the seven weeks dropped out of the race later on, so people felt like they had wasted their vote.”

But some elections officials and advocates, including the League of Women Voters of Georgia, are concerned that the shortened time period would decrease access to the polls for voters unable to cast ballots during the proposed three weeks.

“It is more important that Georgians have more access to the polls and more opportunities to participate in their government rather than less,” said Tracey-Ann Nelson, executive director for the state LWV branch.

In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Secretary of State Brian Kemp said he will review the legislation and work to protect the interests of voters in a cost-effective manner.

Hamilton said, “The bill still leaves plenty of time, three weeks plus a mandatory Saturday between weeks two and three, and absentee voting still exists.”

If approved by lawmakers, the changes would have to be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice before taking effect to ensure the rules do not violate the Voting Rights Act.

In 2008, early voting in person was expanded to 45 days to match early voting by mail, and the excuse requirement needed to vote early was removed. That year, about 2 million people statewide voted early in the general presidential election. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, about 783,000 people voted early, according to numbers from the secretary of state's office.

With the expanded time came increased costs -- specifically personnel costs -- that smaller counties are having a hard time covering, said officials with the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, which is supporting the bill. The Georgia Municipal Association would like the voting period shortened even more -- to two weeks -- to save money for small cities, officials said.

“This is a problem for rural counties who don’t have the staff. The national average for early voting is 24 days and 21 days for municipal elections in [Georgia],” said Clint Mueller, ACCG’s legislative director. “Our only issue is the cost. We’re trying to make sure we’re spending our tax dollars as wisely as possible.”

An ACCG survey found that counties with less than 10,000 registered voters spent an average $78.31 per early vote in the 2010 primary election, and $11.79 in the general election, compared with $10.76 and $3.63 for counties with more than 100,000 registered voters. Some large counties, such as Cobb County, support the bill and could amend voting times and expand locations to accommodate voters during the shortened period.

But even for the larger counties, it's a matter of money vs. convenience for voters.

“Everybody is looking at saving money right now,” said Rod Edmond, chairman of Fulton County’s elections board. “On the flip side, we don’t want to curtail anyone’s access to the ballot. However, I’m sure it gets to be a tipping point where it doesn’t make fiscal sense to have the early voting period over so many days.”

Fulton County would save money under the legislation by not having to hire about 35 poll workers for the early voting period, county officials estimated.

But officials in DeKalb County oppose the shorter early voting period.

“Early voting has allowed us to increase our voting and allowed voters to almost vote at their leisure, said Sam Tillman, chairman of the county’s elections board.

In the 2008 election, 150,000 people voted early in DeKalb, including 39,000 votes cast during the four weeks the bill seeks to cut, according to the county.

“Everybody talks about costs, but I don’t see where you would save that much money," Tillman said, "but I do see it having a negative impact on giving the citizens of DeKalb the opportunity to vote.”