Georgia’s Election Bill Takes Another Step Forward
A voter casts a ballot a school gymnasium in Atlanta, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. A bill to close polls an hour earlier in Atlanta passed Monday afternoon.
David Goldman / Associated Press
A bill to close voting polls earlier in Atlanta passed Georgia’s Senate Monday afternoon.
Senate Bill 309 would unify polling hours statewide from 7 am to 7 pm. Right now, Atlanta’s polls stay open till 8 pm.
“By unifying the poll closure time we will reduce confusion,” said State Senator Josh McKoon, who introduced the bill.
McKoon pointed to last year’s elections as his reason to change the hours. While it was Atlanta’s mayoral and city council races, both Fulton and DeKalb had their own, separate ballots.
Fulton County requested to extend the hours at their polling locations to 8 pm to give everyone in the county, not just Atlanta, the same amount of time to vote for a new county chairman.
DeKalb County was marked down for a special-purpose local-option sales tax. Since a slice of Atlanta is in DeKalb, county officials switched to paper ballots from 7 pm to 8 pm at those specific polls. The paper ballots were for the Atlanta races only.
But some senators argued Atlanta needs the extra hour because of traffic.
Senate Bill 309 would also create party primaries during special elections. Right now, all candidates are on a single ballot. McKoon said the bill is to “level the playing field.”
Last year, McKoon said he’d introduce a bill after the two top finishers in the 6th District Senate Seat were Democrats. That’s because the GOP vote was split between more candidates.
Senate Bill 309 passed Georgia’s Senate 35 to 19. It now heads to Georgia’s House of Representatives.
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