Georgia Sec. of State warns voters will experience lines Tuesday
ATLANTA - Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger warned voters this will be a primary unlike any they have experienced before.
"This Election Day will look different. There will be lines," Sec. Raffensperger explained.
Georgia has already set a record with more than 1.2 million people voting in the primary. According to the Secretary of State's Office, nearly 325,000 of those were during advance in-person voting, which marks another record.
The process, though, has been slow. Many people waited for hours at the Wolf Creek Library in Fulton County Friday before casting their ballots.
Raffensperger said there has been a learning curve because this the first time most Georgians have used the state's new electronic voting machines. New coronavirus protocols have also added time to the process. Poll workers must sanitize every touch screen machine between every voter.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has also forced some counties to relocate or combine polling locations because some places, like churches, did not want to host this year.
Georgia Democratic Party Director of Voter Protection Saira Draper said voters should allow themselves extra time to cast their ballots and confirm where they are supposed to go.
"We've seen a lot of precinct changes, polling locations that have shut down," said Draper. "So, what's going to be really important for tomorrow is to check before you leave the house. Go to mvp.sos.ga.gov and check the location of your precinct because it literally could've changed since last week."
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About 1.5 million Georgians requested absentee ballots for the primary and Sec. Raffensperger encouraged anyone who has not returned theirs yet to do so.
"If you still have that absentee ballot on your kitchen table, please vote it and drop it off in a dropbox or at your county registrar's office by 7 p.m. on Tuesday. That will help all voters," Raffensperger said.