Early voting period ends on Friday ahead of May 24 primary election

ALBANY — The clock is ticking on the opportunity to cast an early vote and potentially avoid election day lines on Tuesday.

Early voting for the May 24 Republican and Democratic primaries is open each day this week through Friday, and turnout has been fairly steady if not spectacular, local election officials said.

“It’s going well,” Lee County Elections Supervisor Veronica Johnson said. “We are steady. We are having a higher turnout for advance in-person voting than we did in 2018 or June 2020.”

Polls are open from 8:15 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Lee County Elections office, located at 100 Starksville Ave. North.

For Dougherty County voters, the hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the 125 Pine Ave. RiverFront Resource Center.

Although the early voting numbers are better than was the case in the previous two primary elections, they come with a caveat. In 2018, Lee County had a dismal voter turnout of 18%, and in 2020 a record number of people chose to vote by mail due to the presence of COVID-19.

Through Monday, 1,056 Lee County voters had shown up for advance voting, compared to a total of 747 in 2018 and 792 in 2018.

“Typically the last day of early voting is our busiest day,” Johnson said. “(Early voting) helps us to manage crowds. If we can pull off a portion of our voters, it helps make it easier to manage on election day.

The two state-mandated Saturday voting days were not a huge success among Lee County voters, with 29 voting on May 7 and 46 on May 14.

In Dougherty County 56 residents cast ballots on the first Saturday and 131 on May 14, matching the total for the 131 who voted on the one Sunday added to the calendar. Through the close of the day on Monday, 2,792 of the county’s roughly 68,000 registered voters had cast early ballots.

Voting precincts will be ready to handle large numbers of voters if they come out on Tuesday, Dougherty Elections Supervisor Ginger Nickerson said. The elderly and disabled will be moved to the front of the line.

“Hopefully, it should be seamless and they should have a good voter experience,” Nickerson said.

She reminded voters that the primary requires the selection of either a Democratic or Republican ballot to vote in contested party races. And those selections hold for the June runoff election, so that a voter who picked a Republican ballot in May cannot vote in a Democratic runoff election in June. She also reminded voters that sample ballots are available for review at the Elections office or at the early voting precinct.

“I’m hoping people will take advantage of the early voting process,” Nickerson said. “After 5 o’clock Friday, the next opportunity will be Election Day.”

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f714026fc83d6150ab9a4350b4169940?s=100&d=mm&r=gStaff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f714026fc83d6150ab9a4350b4169940?s=100&d=mm&r=g