Preparations for the Nov. 3 election, which includes the presidential election as well as two senate seats in Georgia, are ramping up.
Gilmer County Chief Registrar Tammy Watkins has a request for local voters.
“Be prepared to be patient,” she said. “We’re going to do the best we can to get everybody in and out.”
In 2016 more than 6,000 voted early out of 15,748 registered voters. Gilmer County now has more than 22,000 registered voters. Watkins is expecting a large turnout.
Mailed ballots are expected to be sent to voters who requested them by the end of September.
“We have just proofed them,” Watkins said. “We are already kind of in full swing to get things mailed out.”
At this point, this includes 2,640 “rollovers” which are sent to elderly and disabled voters who signed up for mailed ballots at the beginning of the year. These are mailed out from the secretary of state’s office.
Another 389 Gilmer County voters have requested mail-in ballots so far.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has set up a website at ballotrequest.sos.ga.gov for citizens to request mail-in ballots.
The last day to register to vote is Oct. 5 for the upcoming election.
Early voting will run from Oct. 13 through Oct. 30, at the registrar’s office at the courthouse Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. One Saturday, Oct. 24, will be opened for early voting. Hours will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We encourage people to come and vote early,” said Watkins.
Distancing because of COVID-19 will cause some changes to early voting. Watkins is working on setting up two check-in stations to speed up the process.
“We’re going to do some changing around so we can have people six feet apart and move more machines in,” she said.
Anyone interested in becoming a poll worker can pick up an application at the registrar’s office. If virus cases spike, more workers may be needed to fill positions.