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How to respond to voting problems
A Georgia woman said she was turned away from a voting precinct in Atlanta. She called a voter hotline and someone took her downtown to resolve her issues.
ATLANTA - Georgia is once again a battleground state as the Midterm Election swiftly approaches. Record turnout has already been seen during the early voting period and a heavy turnout is expected next Tuesday.
Most of the voting has been going smoothly, but a few voters have reported running into problems and election officials want those who do to know what they need to do.
Kathleen Hill, who is 77, says she headed to the popular Buckhead voting location to cast her ballot for Georgia’s next governor. After an almost four-hour wait, she says election officials told her she couldn’t vote.
"You tell me I couldn't vote because I hadn't voted before? Because I had registered some time ago when I first moved here and hadn't voted before? So they said I couldn't vote," said Hill.
The grandmother of four said she moved to Georgia from South Bend, Indiana and is normally non-confrontational, but had grown up during segregation.
"And just being rejected, I thought what the…, I've been voting all my life. I’m almost, this month I will be 78, and they can't tell me I am not gonna vote now I do not care what it's for," she said.
Ms. Hill was persistent, called 866-OUR VOTE, and someone from the People's Agenda picked her up and took her downtown where she was able to cast her ballot.
Georgia's Secretary of State's Office says Hill handled the problem perfectly.
"That could have been an error on the part of the poll worker or they could find her. I can't speak to what happened," a spokesperson for the Georgia Secretary of State's Office said.
State election officials say when someone runs into a problem like this, vote with a provisional ballot and talk to an election supervisor.
When the Buckhead resident finally cast her ballot earlier this week, she realized again just how precious the right to vote is.
"When I did get up to leave, I could not move, I just started crying... it was just very emotionally," she said.