DeKalb commission to host voting town hall

DeKalb Commissioner Lorraine Cochran-Johnson will host a countywide voting town hall meeting to provide interactive demonstrations on new voting machines.

DeKalb Commissioner Lorraine Cochran-Johnson will host a countywide voting town hall meeting to provide interactive demonstrations on new voting machines.

With the state of Georgia replacing all of its voting machines by the March 24 presidential primary with a new voting system, DeKalb County Commissioner Lorraine Cochran-Johnson wants to ensure know how to use the new machines, according to a press releaswe. Her intent is to increase voter confidence and voter participation.

Commissioner Cochran-Johnson will hold a countywide Voting Town Hall 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at Porter Sandford Performing Arts Center, 3181 Rainbow Dr., Decatur. Residents can practice on the voting machines from 4 to 6 p.m.

“The ability to vote is among our most sacred rights as U.S. citizens,” said Commissioner Cochran-Johnson. “I want to ensure DeKalb residents have faith in the system and equal access to voting free of disenfranchisement.”

The Voting Town Hall will give residents access to their voting status, the ability to register to vote, and the opportunity to speak with state and local election officials to answer questions pertinent to voting in the approaching primaries.

Town hall panel members will include Ted Koval, Georgia Secretary of State Office; Samuel Tillman and Anthony Lewis, DeKalb Board of Registrations and Elections; Leona Perry, DeKalb Democrats; Thomas Bowden, Esq., DeKalb Republicans; and Erica Hamilton, director of the DeKalb Voter Registration and Elections. Panel members and voting officials will be on-hand to discuss voting practices, absentee voting procedures, ballot processing times, provisional ballots, how to encourage voter participation and standard voting procedures.