Georgia election officials report high turnout, short lines
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said polling places are seeing high turnout, but that doesn’t mean voters are experiencing much of a wait.
Speaking at the state’s elections operations center, Raffensperger said wait times in Georgia polling places were about two minutes Tuesday afternoon.
“Some people can’t believe the turnout is so strong because you’re not seeing any of these long lines,” Raffensperger said. “It’s just been tremendously smooth.”
County election officials were told to prepare for two million Election Day voters, on top of the 2.5 million voters that already cast their ballots during three weeks of early voting.
Raffensperger said lines moved fast because election officials ensured that each precinct had enough check-in stations, voting touchscreens and scanners to accommodate their number of registered voters.
Voter processing times at check-in stations were just 49 seconds, Raffensperger said.
While election officials are vigilant about threats, none has been reported. The secretary of state’s office started a text messaging line that poll workers could use to report problems to law enforcement, but no one had used it yet.
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
