Thursday, October 23, 2008
News Early voting becomes advanced next week
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 7:37 PM
If you've been put off by articles about the long lines at early-voting locations, but you don't want to wait until Election Day to cast your ballot, you may get a break next week. That's when Georgia counties begin advanced voting.
What's the difference, you ask? Oh, there's a world of difference; early voting began Sept. 22, while advance voting runs next Monday through Friday.
Still not clear?
Well, there isn't any meaningful distinction, so calling them different names probably only serves to confuse people. But here's a primer: Advanced voting in the week prior to Election Day was launched in Georgia a few years back by then-Secretary of State Cathy Cox, a Democrat, even though statistics showed that it was more popular with – and thus beneficial to – Republicans.
Early voting in the month leading up to the election is new this year, having been initiated by Republicans eager to increase what they perceived to be a beneficial program for the GOP. So far, the huge numbers of early voters have taken everyone by surprise. Mark Henderson, voting outreach coordinator for Fulton County, says voters have been lining up before the county admin building opens in the morning; by afternoon, the line stretches to more than 200 people. Voters in Fulton, which has three early-voting sites, have typically waited about an hour to vote, he says, while voters in some other counties have had to wait as much as two hours.
But that may change next week during advance voting, when many counties will extend voting hours and expand the number of polling places. Fulton will add four advance-voting sites, bringing the total to seven. DeKalb will expand from two polling places to six, Cobb from two to five, and Gwinnett from one to five.
To find locations and hours of your county's early and advanced voting locations, check out the Secretary of State's website.
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