As voters took to the polls to cast their ballots Tuesday, almost 8,000 Gilmer County residents had already voted early in the 2022 midterm election either in person or by mail.
As of Monday afternoon, Gilmer County’s final numbers for early voting, which started Oct. 17 and ended Nov. 4, included 7,193 voting in person and 776 accepted absentee (by mail) ballots, according to the Gilmer Registrar’s Office.
Eight out of 23 UOCAVA (Uniformed And Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) absentee ballots for United States military and family members residing outside the U.S. had been returned and accepted by Monday afternoon, also according to the registrar’s office.
Tammy Watkins, chief registrar, said the county’s in-person early voter turnout was heaviest in the first two weeks.
“Our first week was record breaking. We were blown away by the numbers that first week,” Watkins said. “The second week was more than normal, but, by the third week, it had slowed down.”
Despite that slowdown, Watkins said she still considers the early voting turnout for this election to be more than normal.
“Everybody is really serious about voting,” she added. “With the absentee by mail ballots, they were turning them back in quickly.”
Strong turnouts were also seen on two Saturdays (Oct. 22 and 29), in which in-person early voting could be done, Watkins confirmed.
“The first Saturday, we had 204, which was more than normal for a Saturday. On the second one, we had 196. For us, that’s a lot. We were happily surprised with that (because) we’d rather see a steady flow,” she added.
Election Day voting also appeared to be off to a strong start around the county on Tuesday.
At one local polling place, the Coosawattee Shrine Club, 108 had already voted by 10 a.m. that morning.