Voting extended at 1 Gwinnett County precinct

Voting will run later than usual at a Gwinnett County polling precinct that had its opening briefly delayed Tuesday morning, officials said.

Voting at Precinct 43 — Sweetwater Middle School, 3500 Cruse Road in Lawrenceville — will remain open until 7:12 p.m. The precinct's opening was delayed by 12 minutes "due to a problem unlocking the polling units," county officials said.

County officials previously said another precinct, Ferguson Elementary School in Duluth, had had its opening delayed by eight minutes due to "a problem with equipment." Tuesday afternoon, they said that wasn't the case.

"The poll manager reported the late opening in error," spokesman Joe Sorenson said. "They opened at 7, but didn't have all machines working until a few minutes later."

Earlier Tuesday, Sorenson said the county's biggest issue had been "people showing up at Elections HQ in Lawrenceville trying to vote."

"This location is only a polling place during early voting," he wrote in an email. "People can deliver their absentee ballots to Elections HQ in Lawrenceville, but all other voting must be done at a voter’s regular polling place."

Gwinnett County polls — Precinct 43 notwithstanding — will be open until 7 p.m., and residents are allowed to vote if they're in line by that time. Visit the Secretary of State's website to find your polling place.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that Gwinnett will be one of three counties in Georgia where it will deploy federal poll monitors, which are tasked with assuring compliance with federal voting laws. Fulton and Hancock counties will also have poll monitors Tuesday.

As of 11 a.m., more than 52,000 Gwinnnettians had already cast their Election Day ballots.