Early voting location will be open Saturday and Sunday in Albany

ALBANY — Dougherty County voters whose weekday schedules don’t allow getting to the polls or who want to do their duty after Sunday church services will get a chance to complete their ballots Saturday and Sunday during weekend voting.

The Dougherty County Voter Registration and Elections Office added the Sunday voting day earlier this month. The early voting site will be open from noon-4 p.m. on Sunday and from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday at the 222 Pine Ave. Riverfront Resource Center.

The site had issues with long waits last week, which Dougherty County Elections Supervisor Ginger Nickerson attributed to problems with the state voting system, which crashed frequently early in the week.

While the computer system problems have been addressed, social distancing requirements due to COVID-19 have still slowed down the process.

This year there are more voting machines and poll workers than ever before at the early voting site, Nickerson said. Voters can still expect to wait in line, but the staff is doing everything possible to make it as quick as possible.

“That’s all a part of social distancing,” she said. “Social distancing plays a great role in how we facilitate the process.”

A greeter is in place to help voters, she said. Voters who are 75 years of age or older or who are disabled are allowed to move to the front of the line. The greeter also notifies voters of available sample ballots for viewing.

While 2020 is a presidential election year, which traditionally brings out the largest crowd of voters, this year’s numbers are behind those from 2016 so far.

At the close of the day on Tuesday, 4,508 people had cast in-person votes at the site. During the last presidential election some 14,316 Dougherty County residents voted in person ahead of election day.

Due to concerns about catching the novel coronavirus, many more voters have requested absentee ballots this year that can be mailed in without having to go to the polls.

The county now has drop boxes for absentee ballots in place at the 225 Pine Ave. Government Center and at the Tallulah Massey, Southside and Northwest Library branches.

All 28 voting precincts will be open for the Nov. 3 election. Due to a shortage of poll workers, not all of the precincts were open for the June primary contests.

The Bill Miller Center location has been moved to Morningside Elementary School due to renovations at the gym facility.

Early voting extends through next Friday.

File Photo

Staff Photo: Tara Dyer Stoyle