Precinct’s voters will use Roy Road Fire Station on Election Day
Gilmer County election personnel are reminding voters who previously cast their ballots at the Big Creek Fire Station that the Big Creek precinct’s polling place will move come Election Day.
County fire station 17 on Roy Road is where registered Big Creek precinct voters will go to vote from now on beginning with the Tuesday, May 24, primary election, confirmed Scott Chastain, Gilmer’s election superintendent.
“We’ll have everything set up at the Roy Road station. There’ll be nothing at the Big Creek station other than notices that we’re not there anymore,” Chastain said.
The new polling place, located at 7212 Roy Road, should provide better parking, easier access and a bigger, more modern facility for elections, Chastain noted.
Moving the polling place was discussed at a February town hall meeting where few public comments were given, but nothing was heard in opposition to the move.
“I’ve not had any negative feedback period,” said Chastain.
Before the move could be officially announced to voters, the county first had to find out at the state level if there was enough time to get precinct notification cards in the mail to inform Big Creek voters of the change.
Those notification cards have been mailed, and a banner is up at the Big Creek Fire Station announcing the move, Chastain noted.
Still, the elections office wants to make sure the precinct’s voters have adequate notification that they won’t be going to that particular fire station anymore.
“They need to check to be sure they’ve received their (precinct cards). If they’ve not received them for some reason, they can contact the registrar’s office and let them know,” Chastain said.
No other polling places are being relocated, Chastain confirmed.
The Big Creek polling place move does not affect early voting, which began May 2. All early voting is still being done at the county voter registrar’s office, 1 Broad Street. The last day for early voting is Friday, May 20.
Chastain said there’s a lengthy ballot for this primary election, which includes candidates for Georgia governor and secretary of state, as well as Gilmer County Post 2 Commissioner and Board of Education districts 4 and 5.
All voters may want to familiarize themselves with the ballot items before coming to vote, Chastain recommended.
“There are several questions on the Republican ballot and several questions on the Democrat ballot. It’s going to take a few minutes to go through the ballot and cast that vote,” he said.