Election Day 2018: Voters Head To Polls In Metro Atlanta
Poll worker Sarah Thomas places signs outside a precinct before polls open on Election Day in Atlanta. Across the country, voters headed to the polls Tuesday in one of the most high-profile midterm elections in years.
David Goldman / Associated Press
It’s Election Day in the U.S., which means crowds are casting their votes in metro Atlanta.
This contentious election has Georgia gubernatorial candidates Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams on the top of the ticket. Other positions on the ballot include the secretary of state, attorney general and lieutenant governor.
Polling places are open to voters from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the 159 counties in Georgia.
To vote, bring a valid photo ID, such as a passport, driver’s license or voter identification card. Visit the Georgia My Voter Page to know where your polling location is and the status of your voter registration.
Already, about 2.1 million early ballots, including absentee ballots and in-person votes, have been cast in Georgia, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office. This is a record high for early voting. The last midterm election in 2014 garnered 945,507 early votes.
More than 6.4 million Georgians are registered to vote this year, according to the state Secretary of State’s Office.
At some polling places in Georgia, voters had to stand in line for almost three hours, according to the Associated Press.
In Gwinnett County, voters were given provisional paper ballots, because the voting machines were down.
The long wait and paper ballots discouraged some from voting and resulted in them leaving, according to Ontaria Woods, a voter who refused the paper ticket, because she didn’t “trust it.”
“We’ve been trying to tell them to wait, but people have children. People are getting hungry. People are tired,” Woods told AP.
Gwinnett County Communications Division Director Joe Sorenson told AP that some of the check-in machines have had issues in some precincts.
Jordan Avery, 20, stood in a line that wrapped around the building in order to vote. He said this morning was his only window of time to cast his ballot because he has classes until 7 p.m.
“This is right before my class. So if this [polling place] line is too long, I can’t vote…I wanted to wake up earlier, but I didn’t think it would be this long,” Avery said.
In Fulton County, voter Hannah Ackermann was told that the reason why she had to wait to vote at the polls is because workers didn’t come to work.
The lines were long “because the ballot is really long,” according to Fulton County elections director Ricard Barron.
Since 24-year-old Mikayla Kelhofer’s car is in the repair shop, she had to walk half a mile to vote on Election Day. She said this election is very important to her.
“I think that it starts with the small stuff, because as a community what we experience is what’s immediately around us, not necessarily what’s on the federal level. And to be able to contribute to what’s going on locally and regionally is going to definitely change how your immediate life feels,” Kelhofer said.
Kimberly Harris, 37, came out to vote, even though she’s been convicted of a felony. She said she hasn’t been able to vote in several years.
“I wasn’t going to come out at first, but God told me to just basically to go try it … If I can’t it’s going to hurt my feelings. I’m going to cry walking back to my car. But I’ll be ok. Eventually, one day, I’ll be able to vote,” Harris said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. For full election coverage visit election.wabe.org.
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