Fulton County's Commission chairman has high hopes for the general election.
Almost 94 percent of Fulton’s eligible voters are registered, he said, and Chairman John Eaves expects voter turnout to reach 70 percent of those who are eligible.
And more than half of those voters, he hopes, will make it to the polls well before Nov. 8.
“The voting process to me right now is off the chain,” Eaves said Tuesday in an editorial board meeting with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, calling the number of registered voters “phenomenal.”
Fulton has opened more early voting locations than any other county in the state, including some mobile “outreach” locations at colleges and senior centers that are only there for a couple days.
While Eaves said the county is being aggressive and innovative in its plans to expand voter access, the candidates have also driven more people to register — and to vote.
“It’s the Donald Trump effect,” he said. “It’s also motivated folks who do not subscribe and support him.”
More than 240,000 people registered to vote in 2016, Eaves said, and by Tuesday morning, almost 100,000 voters had already made their selections. Fulton has more than 738,000 registered voters.
Fulton County has had election issues in the past. In 2012, the secretary of state fielded more than 100 complaints about irregularities at polling places, problems that resulted in $180,000 in fines for the county.
Hours after the polls opened, workers were still printing voter lists and delivering them to precincts. Some residents were turned away because their names weren’t on the lists, while 9,575 voters were forced to cast provisional ballots.
In 2008, election officials were still counting absentee ballots 53 hours after the voting ended.
Eaves said he thinks this year, the integrity of the voting process is good. The county should be ready well ahead of time with its voter lists, he said, and both Democrats and Republicans make up the election board that is watching the election.
“If people knew that, they would be less inclined to say this is a rigged election,” he said. “It’s a very transparent process.”
Eaves’ goal, he said, is to “shatter” the early voting records of the past. To offer 17 days of early voting makes it easier for residents county-wide to make time to vote, he said.
And the large number of early voters will make it easier come Nov. 8, he said.
“My level of confidence on election day is very high,” Eaves said.
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