Gwinnett sees record-breaking first day of early voting

First-day early voting turnout in Gwinnett County increased nearly sixfold compared to 2016, county numbers show.

By the end of Monday, 8,703 people had cast ballots at nine different polling places across the county. In 2016, 1,490 voted on the first day of early voting, and only one polling place was available: the county elections office. That’s an increase of 584%.

Voters experienced long lines for most of Monday and Tuesday, with the main elections office in Lawrenceville seeing the longest waits. On both days, estimated wait times reached eight hours. As of Wednesday, the county has added more voting machines and issuing stations at that location to get voters through faster. In order to maintain social distancing, the line for that location will now be entirely outside instead of ending inside the office, county spokesman Joe Sorenson said.

Precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 allow for fewer people in each voting location at a time, which contributed to the lines seen in the first two days of voting. Longer ballots, new two-step machines and technical glitches also added to delays early in the week, elections director Kristi Royston said. The county elections department is evaluating options to make the early in-person voting process faster and more efficient, Royston said.

In addition to the high early voting turnout, the county has also issued more than 140,000 absentee ballots, Sorenson said.

Early voting runs through Oct. 30 and is available seven days a week at the following locations and times: