Historic voting turnout continues
♦ Gordon County is quickly approaching a record number of early voters.
Early voting in Gordon County continues to break records, with more than 8,839 ballots cast as of noon on
Tuesday. Shea Hicks, chair of the Gordon County Board of Elections and Voter Registration Office, said about 700 of those were cast on Saturday.
“It’s more than normal,” Hicks said. “We normally only have a little over 9,000 people vote early.”
With early voting to continue through Friday, Hicks said she expects to easily surpass that number this year, especially considering that more county voters have registered to cast ballots this year than in any prior election.
“We have 37,207 registered voters this year. In 2016, we had 24,934,” Hicks said. “This is the most registered voters we’ve ever seen in Gordon County.”
The Gordon County Elections Office, located at 101 S. Piedmont St., is open from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. for early voting until Friday. Hicks said social distancing will be enforced in the office leading up to and at the polls on Election Day. Extra cleaning measures are being taken following two Elections Office employees falling ill with COVID-19.
Absentee ballot requests have also hit an all-time high this year, with more than 4,800 requests made for the general election.
Those still hoping to request an absentee ballot must do so by Friday. All absentee ballots must be returned by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to be counted.
Absentee ballots can be
returned by mail, in person at the county elections office or at a secure drop box that the elections office has set up. In Gordon County, the drop box is located at the Elections Office at the Gordon County Annex
building. The drop box is to the left of the front door of the building.
Absentee ballots can be returned by the voter, their mother, father, grandparent, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, spouse, son daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law or sister-inlaw; an individual residing
in the same household as the voter; or the caretaker of a voter with disabilities. It is against the law in Georgia for anyone not identified above to collect your ballot.
For those hoping to vote in person, precincts will be open from 7 a. m. until 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. Find your voting precinct by visiting www. mvp.sos.ga.gov.