Voters were lining up as the Gilmer County election office opened for the first day of early voting.
County residents lined up to cast their vote on Oct. 15, the initial day for early voting. By 9:30 a.m., 175 had voted. The number had increased to 399 by 11:45 a.m.
“It’s going really well,” said Gilmer County Chief Registrar Tammy Watkins. “It’s a smoother process. We are just more prepared this time.”
She said her office prepared for numbers similar to 2020. Wait times have been kept low so far.
Five workers are out front manning three check-in stations with 11 machines available for people to cast their votes.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Capitol Beat News Service 72,000 voters had cast their ballots by 10:30 a.m.
He expected the state to surpass the 136,000 first-day voters from four years ago.
“It looks like it’s going to be a record breaker for the first day of early voting,” Raffensperger said.
See related photo on page 2A.