Polls open in DeKalb on rainy Election Day

UPDATE (7 p.m.): As Mindy Baksch walked inside Chestnut Elementary School, poll workers let out a thunderous applause.

She was the last person to vote at the precinct.

“I said God willing please let me make it,” she said. “It felt wonderful as I walked in. It felt very American,” she said.

Baksch is orginally from Kingston, Jamaica, but has been living in DeKalb Count for a decade. She became a citizen during former President Barack Obama’s second term.

She was one of more than 600 people who packed the school Tuesday to cast ballots. Poll manager Johnny Stone said in his 10 years working at that precinct, voter turnout was “higher than normal.”

Cars began trickling out just before polls closed. And for voters such as Baksch — who rushed from her job in downtown Atlanta, hopped on the MARTA train to the Dunwoody station and drove to her precinct —there was no line.

“It is always the most amazing feeling when you can cast your ballot,” Baksch said.

While final totals are not yet in, DeKalb County elections officials said at least 80,551 votes were cast during this midterm election. Official tallies won’t be in until after polls close at 7 p.m.

UPDATE (4 p.m.): Cars filed in and out of the Dunwoody Library late Tuesday afternoon with practically no wait time.

Poll manager Ron James said since the morning rush — which saw about 100 voters in the first hour — the foot traffic has been slow.

By 3 p.m., about 500 people had voted in a “rather smooth,” Election Day.

James said voters will likely trickle in after work.

First time voter Julia Northup, 18, and her mother Laura, 52, managed to beat the evening commute traffic. The Dunwoody residents rushed to their precinct after Julia Northup got out of school.

A senior at Mt. Pisgah Christian School, Northup said she’s most concerned about gun control.

Credit: RAISA HABERSHAM/RAISA.HABERSHAM@AJC.COM

Credit: RAISA HABERSHAM/RAISA.HABERSHAM@AJC.COM

“I think it’s important to make sure I have a say in the future of my country,” she said proudly donning her voter sticker. “I don’t think anyone needs to own an assault rifle. It doesn’t make sense not to have gun control given the number of mass shootings that have occurred.

Laura Northup was also passionate about the environment. An Atlanta Audubon member, Northup said she’s concerned about metro Atlanta’s bird population.

“I’ve noticed a decline in the number of species we have,” she said. “We also have a problem with birds hitting buildings.”

While it has been a quiet evening at the Dunwoody Library, the county saw at least 46,000 voters by 2:30 p.m., DeKalb County spokesman Andrew Cauthen said. That number is four times the amount locations received by 10 a.m.

Unofficial numbers for 4 p.m. were still being called in to the elections office, Cauthen said.

While many precincts have not reported severe issues, Cauthen said any voting problems were addressed with poll workers.

Such was the case at Jolly Elementary School, where a faulty surge protector was affecting the voting machines.

Cauthen said no votes were lost and the surge protector was replaced. An express polling machine was also down, but two more replacement machines were brought in its place.

UPDATE (1 p.m.): As wait times diminish during the lunch hour, DeKalb County officials report no significant voting issues.

But earlier Tuesday was a different story.

Reports of ID scanner issues delayed some voters in DeKalb County before the noon hour.

One resident, Ellaree Yeagley, complained on social media that her ID was not scanning properly at her precinct, Avondale High School.

“The ID scanners aren't working, and some folks are showing up in the system as either unregistered or, like me, showing up as having already voted when they absolutely have not voted yet,” she said in a Facebook post. “It took time and several phone calls, but they supposedly have purged my false vote from the system and I was able to cast my electronic ballot.”

A DeKalb County spokesman said the problem was rectified at the polling place and was likely an issue of a voter having an older identification card.

“The scanners were working, but if you have an older drivers’ license, it may not scan,” DeKalb elections director Erica Hamilton told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

If that is the case, Hamilton said precinct workers can type in the information and to pull up a voter’s information.

“The important thing is whatever polling issue she had was rectified on site and she was able to vote,” DeKalb County spokesman Andrew Cauthen said.

At Kelly Lake Elementary School in Decatur, precinct officials had to restart their ID scanning computers when they “weren’t syncing,” poll manager Jennifer Durham told The AJC. The issue was rectified by 10:30 a.m. and didn’t cause a delay in voting, Durham said.

As of 1 p.m., the county said there are no voting issues.

Wait times are down, but Hamilton said she expects that to increase with the after-work crowd, which is typically between 4 and 7 p.m.

At Kingswood United Methodist Church in Dunwoody, voters were roughly in and out within five minutes — a contrast from the morning.

Poll manager Brian Culpepper said he’s worked at the location for four years and this was the highest turnout he’s seen.

“There was a line outside before we opened,” he said, adding he expects it to pick up later in the afternoon.

ORIGINAL POST: Throngs of voters snaked through the halls of Metro City Church with as many as 140 voters waiting up to an hour to cast ballots early Tuesday morning.

For Meme Seay, 34, of Atlanta, the line was worth the wait.

Seay, a first generation Ethiopian immigrant, said she voted for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams because she believes she’ll focus on higher education and gun control laws.

“I have friends and family who work in schools,” she said. “We pay a lot of property taxes and still can’t support (schools ).

Another DeKalb resident, Dwight Raby, declined to say who he voted for, but said he tends to steer clear of those who claim to lower taxes.

“My general view is the second someone says they’re going to cut taxes, I don’t vote for them because it feels like a bribe.”

Credit: RAISA HABERSHAM/RAISA.HABERSHAM@AJC.COM

Residents will select between gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp and Abrams, who could potentially become the states’s first black woman governor.

The county has already seen a surge in early voting with totals surpassing that of the historic 2008 election. By Friday, 166,280 people voted in advance of Tuesday's election, according to data posted on the county's website. That amount also includes 16,079 absentee ballots.

In 2008, 150,897 early voting ballots were cast. A decade ago, early voting was held only a week before elections, between Oct. 27 and Oct. 31; much shorter than the three weeks currently allowed for early voting.

READ|DeKalb passes historic 2008 early voting totals

ALSO|Looking for signs of a blue wave in north DeKalb County

MORE|House Dems ramp up investment in 6th District race

Elections director Erica Hamilton stopped short of saying today’s election totals would surpass that of 2008.

“I can’t gauge it, but with the surge in voters, we’ll be close,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday.

Other major races DeKalb residents are expected to vote on include lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general.

Residents will also vote for three Congressional seats and six state Legislature races. Those in the 4th district will decide if they want to keep Democrat Hank Johnson Jr. as their representative or select Republican Joe Profit. The 6th district also has to vote between Republican incumbent Karen Handel and gun control advocate Lucy McBath, who gained national attention during the primaries. McBath became a gun control advocate after her teenage son was fatally shot following a dispute over loud music.

Longtime Congressman John Lewis is the sole person listed on the ballot for the 5th district.

Though most of the senate races are unopposed, DeKalb residents in the 40th will have to decide between Fran Millar and Sally Harrell.

Polls close at 7 p.m., but if you make it in line by that time you will be able to vote.