Early voting up in Georgia, might surpass 2006

After a 15-minute wait Friday, Election Day was over for Dan Vancil. Another 30 minutes went by, and Marilyn Vancil was done, too. They voted early.

The Marietta couple will be visiting their grandchildren in Nashville on Nov. 2, leaving them among the more than 300,000 Georgians who have mailed in their ballots or filled them out at a polling booth well ahead of the upcoming election.

With more than a week of early polling left and more voting locations opening next week, Georgia early voters already could have eclipsed the 375,142 people who took part in advanced voting during the last gubernatorial election, though the latest figures won't be available until Monday. The Secretary of State's office had recorded 309,455 votes through Thursday.

“This makes it so much easier for people who have better things to do than wait around on Election Day,” said Dan Vancil as he placed a "I'm a Georgia Voter" sticker on his wife's shoulder.

Nationwide, more than 3 million people already have voted. More than 30 percent of all votes are expected to be cast early. States such as Iowa, Maryland, North Carolina and Louisiana, where voting requires some form of party identification, have reported that Democrat voters have filled out more early ballots than Republicans.

On Friday, early voting was brisk at Metro Atlanta polling places. Not counting those ballots collected, Fulton had recorded 30,884 votes, Cobb 18,750, DeKalb 16,700 and Gwinnett 13,878.

"We voted 410 people today," Cherokee County election supervisor Janet Munda said with an hour left to vote on Friday, expecting to surpass 500 ballots.

Georgia early voting without restrictions began in 2004, when Gov. Sonny Perdue signed legislation allowing voters to mail in absentee ballots or go to the polls as early as 45 days before Election Day. Previously, people who wanted to cast an early ballot in person had to submit a statement explaining his or her hardship, or citing a disability or age older than 75.

To further increase early turnout, DeKalb County added Saturday voting for the first time in several years, elections spokeswoman Mary Frances Weeks said. More than 1,000 people cast ballots last Saturday.

Fulton County set a goal of 20,000 in-person early votes for the 45-day period, and had exceeded three-quarters of that total through Thursday. Three more polling sites open Monday. Another 14,557 mail-in votes have already been processed in Fulton.

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Democratic elections analyst Jim Coonan said the numbers that different counties are reporting aren't necessarily startling, representing about 5 percent of the population, but still are impressive.

"In a really, really close election, it's going to be one of those things that makes a difference," he said.

Georgia doesn't keep track of party choice in general elections. However, Emory University political science professor Alan Abramowitz said some partisan voting has favored racial lines.

"For Democratic candidates to have any chance in Georgia, they need a significant African-American vote," Abramowitz said.

Bernadette Sam, a black woman from Smyrna who voted early on Friday, said she didn't vote along party lines.

"I knew who I was going to vote for," Sam said. "I kind of picked and chose based upon what I thought was the right person for each position."

Ellen Francis, a Marietta nurse, will work a 12-hour shift on Election Day -- from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.  Voting early, she picked Republican and Democratic candidates, despite a bevy of automated calls and mailers encouraging her to vote certain parties.

"I don't need them to remind me to vote," Francis said. "And I don't vote straight down the line."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.