Early voting in Georgia ended Friday. Here’s what you need to know heading into Election Day:
WHERE DO I VOTE TUESDAY?
Personalized polling locations and precincts can be found via the Georgia secretary of state’s website at www.sos.ga.gov/mvp. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you mailed in an absentee ballot, you can also check that site to see whether it has been received.
SAMPLE BALLOTS
Log on to www.sos.ga.gov/mvp, plug in your information and you can access a sample ballot.
PROBLEMS
If you have or see problems, first contact your local elections office. If local officials can’t help, the Secretary of State’s Office has an online complaint form via the “elections” link at www.sos.ga.gov.
WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU
Georgia requires voters to show photo identification when they vote in person. Approved forms of identification include a Georgia driver’s license, even if it’s expired; a state-issued voter identification card; a valid U.S. passport; and a valid U.S. military photo ID.
TELL US WHY YOU VOTED
Tell us why you participated in the Nov. 6 election. Take a photo of yourself featuring your answer, then send it one of these ways:
1. Email your photo to share@ajc.com with “Why I Voted” in the subject field
2. Tweet your photo to @ajc with the hashtag #whyivoted
3. Upload your photo or video from your computer at share.ajc.com
Early voting ended Friday in Georgia with a rush, as the number of voters who went to polls before Election Day surged past 1.6 million.
Waits of two to three hours were reported in some areas, including east Cobb County and Sandy Springs in north Fulton County, although the time it took to vote varied across metro Atlanta by location and time of day.
How close the state’s final early-voting tally will get to the record of more than 2 million set four years ago won’t be clear until Monday, when the the Secretary of State’s Office releases totals that reflect Friday’s crowds.
Still, overall totals have been trending below totals for the November 2008 presidential election, making it unlikely. The total of more than 1.6 million, which the office released Friday, reflects early voters through the end of the day Thursday.
In 2008, Georgia saw a nearly 400 percent increase in early voters over the prior presidential election. Some of the factors experts have credited for that increase were a change in state law that expanded early voting and strong interest during a campaign year that resulted in the election of the nation’s first black president.
While a number of voters then and now said they worked in early voting around their jobs, many others touted the convenience.
“I voted early in Georgia because school is out on Election Day,” said Jenni Hilton, who lives in Forsyth County. “I didn’t want to wait in the lines with my kids.”
Early voting polls have been open in Georgia since Oct. 15, which reflects a shorter period for early voting than in 2008. Legislators last year shortened the window for early voting from 45 days to 21 days.
Political observers also think more voters this year are waiting until Tuesday to cast their vote because of their experience four years ago. Many early voters then stood in long lines — waits of up to eight hours were reported — then saw congestion-free polling sites on Election Day.
The state stopped short this year of publicly setting an overall early-voting goal. In a poll conducted recently for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, nearly 40 percent of likely Georgia voters said they plan to cast a ballot during early voting. Four years ago, 53 percent of all those who voted in Georgia cast ballots before Election Day, either in person or by mail.
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