The City of Ellijay recently welcomed a new election superintendent who will get a primer on new changes to Georgia election laws at a conference for the state’s registration and election officials this week.
Things are changing so much this year, noted new Election Superintendent Sandra Sales about changes that follow passage of a statewide election reform bill earlier this year.
Sales, who was appointed the city’s new election superintendent at an Aug. 16 Ellijay City Council meeting, is no stranger to working for the city government. She retired as Ellijay’s city clerk in 2007 after working in that position since 1995.
Sales said she’s previously participated in the local election process and has worked past elections with the city’s resigning election superintendent, Gary Watkins.
“I’ve helped at the registration office doing elections, and I work the Mountaintown Precinct on election days,” she added.
“I used to be the city clerk and was involved a little bit with (elections) back then. I just enjoy being able to see the people and all.”
Watkins, who held the position for 12 years, said it was just time to let somebody else step into the election-managing role. He will continue as election superintendent for East Ellijay and in helping set up county elections.
“I really enjoyed working for the City of Ellijay, and I think Sandra will make a good superintendent,” he said.
The superintendent’s duties include having election ballots printed, advertising them to the public and counting ballots cast by voters after the polls close.
“After qualifying, you have to go to the printer and get it all set up,” Watkins explained.
“They do a check sheet, and we double check everything to make sure it’s right. The wording has to be just right. You have to make sure everybody’s name is spelled right, and everybody is in alphabetical order. It’s very tedious. You double check and double check just to make sure.”
Both Ellijay and East Ellijay use paper ballots for city elections, Watkins confirmed.
“The election superintendent and the workers count them. We do it at the Civic Center. We want all the candidates to be there, and the public is invited to come,” he added.
“It can get pretty close. (A few) years ago, we had a tie for that fifth (city council) spot. We counted and double counted, and it still came up as a tie. That’s when we had to have the runoff.”
There are currently 1,185 registered voters in the city, Sales noted. Ellijay’s elected positions of mayor and city council won’t be up for voting for a few more years with the next election in 2023.
However, a city special election will be held this November, Sales noted.
In that special election, Ellijay voters will decide whether or not to allow the sales of packaged distilled spirits inside the city limits. Specific details about early voting and the ballot item will be forthcoming, Sales said.
Changes made by the recently passed state law include voters having to provide an ID number, such as a driver’s license, to apply for an absentee ballot; time changes for early voting and Saturday voting days now required.
Sales will know more about what’s different this year after attending the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials Conference at Jekyll Island.
“The main thing is making sure we know everything that’s changed,” she said.