Early voting strong in Dougherty, Lee counties ahead of Senate runoff; Polls open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday

ALBANY — It’s one more trip to the polls in 2022 for voters in southwest Georgia and across the state to weigh in on the last U.S. Senate seat up for grabs this election cycle.

While control of that body was settled with the Nov. 6 election, turnout during a week of advance, in-person “early” voting was intense.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m-7 p.m. at voter precincts on Tuesday for the runoff election between incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

“We had more than 25% (of registered voters) with advance voting and the absentee ballots that have been returned,” Lee County Elections Supervisor Veronica Johnson said.

During the five days, with voting extended two days until 7 p.m., 5,426 voted early, and an additional 313 had returned absentee ballots. By comparison, 6,917 Lee County voters cast ballots during three weeks of early voting leading up to the general election in November.

“We’re shooting for a big turnout tomorrow,” Johnson said. “Since there is only one item on the ballot, I think voting will be quick.”

There could be some backups during heavy voting times, like early-morning hours, lunch and after 4 p.m.. But most people are set on a candidate and take little time in the booth, so any waits should be brief, she said.

“We just encourage people to have a little patience if they go and there is a line,” Johnson said.

Dougherty County also put up strong numbers during the week of early voting, which Elections Supervisor Ginger Nickerson found reminiscent of the 2021 runoff election in which Warnock defeated the Republican incumbent, Kelly Loeffler.

“We did almost 10,000 in a week,” she said of last week’s advance-voting period.

The first and last day of the week, when voting hours were extended from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. to 7 p.m.-7 p.m. each saw more than 2,000 ballots cast.

Nickerson and her counterpart in Lee County both recommended that voters confused about precinct locations, eligibility or other issues to visit the secretary of state’s My Voter Page at https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/.

“It is our hope that tomorrow our voters will be just as enthusiastic as they were for the week of advance voting,” Nickerson said.

File PhotoFile Photo