Featuring the race for mayor of Atlanta and local contests statewide, the elections will be the first time many voters go to the polls since the General Assembly passed Georgia’s new voting law in March. Voters will decide on mayors, city councils, school boards and tax referendums.

Early voting locations, hours and sample ballots are available online on the state’s My Voter Page at www.mvp.sos.ga.gov. Voters must cast ballots in the counties where they’re registered.

Changes to voting laws affect early voting in several ways.

The minimum early voting hours are set at 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and counties can offer up to 12 hours of daily early voting, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In previous elections, early voting times were required “during normal business hours,” but those hours weren’t defined.

Early voting will also be offered on two Saturdays, and local election offices have the option of providing voting hours on Sundays as well. Before the law, one Saturday of early voting was required.

Early voting is available from Oct. 12 to Oct. 29.

Absentee ballots are also being mailed to voters this week. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is 11 days before election day, on Oct. 22, and completed ballots must be received at local election offices before polls close.

Voters can return absentee ballots through the mail or in drop boxes, but fewer ballot drop boxes are available this year, and voters can no longer use them to return ballots in the final days of the election.

Georgia’s voting law prohibits drop boxes from being used except during early voting hours, and they can only be located inside early voting locations. The number of drop boxes in each county is capped at one for every 100,000 active voters or the number of early voting locations. Every county must install at least one drop box.

How to vote early in Georgia