Voter registration ended in Georgia with a steady stream of people at local elections offices, but not the crush of four years ago when long lines snaked into parking lots well past business hours.
Tuesday was the deadline for voter registration applications to be postmarked or submitted in person in time for the Nov. 6 general election.
Statewide, about 6 million Georgians are registered to vote, about 242,000 more than were registered for the last presidential election in November 2008. It will take a couple of weeks to tally a final number after Tuesday’s deadline.
In metro Atlanta, most local officials said last-minute registrations kept them busy but not overwhelmed. Some said they opened their offices on Monday’s Columbus Day holiday to make registration more convenient. Others stayed open later than usual Tuesday to accommodate residents stopping by after work.
The busiest reports came from Henry County, where Elections Director Janet Shellnutt estimated her staff would register a total of 800 new voters by 5 p.m., on top of the 500 voters registered Monday.
“It’s been swamped,” Shellnutt said. “Several times [Tuesday] we’ve had lines out the door. We were busy [in 2008], but I don’t remember it being this busy.”
Cobb County Elections Registration Manager Janine Eveler said Monday and Tuesday were busier than normal. DeKalb County Elections Director Maxine Daniels opened an extra room Tuesday just for registration, extending by half an hour the office’s typical 4:30 p.m. closing time.
Clayton County elections officials reported registering more than 100 people before noon Tuesday — about nearly as much as Fayette County reported for the day. Fayette Elections Supervisor Tom Sawyer said the number of voters registering at his office Tuesday “does not appear near as busy as [2008].”
“Seems we had them lined out the door in ’08,” Sawyer said.
Gwinnett County Elections Supervisor Lynn Ledford also said registration lines were “nothing like 2008,” with just three or four people waiting at a time.
Four years ago, voters on the cusp of a historic presidential election crowded into local elections offices to beat the registration deadline, doubling some counties’ average daily registration counts and causing others to move employees’ parked cars to make room for the long lines.
About the Author
