Over 400 vote early in 3 days
♦ The Presidential Preference Primary is set for March 24, and early voting continues through March 20.
More than 400 Floyd County residents cast their votes within the first three days of the early voting period of the Presidential
Preference Primary, according to county election officials.
The majority of those ballots — 166 — were fed through the new digital scanners on Tuesday at the Floyd County Administration Building at 12 E. Fourth Ave.
Monday’s count was 117 and on Wednesday there were 125 votes cast using the new Dominion voting machines.
Floyd County Chief Elections Clerk Robert Brady said Wednesday he was pleased with how smoothly the process is going so far.
“I’ve spent the majority of my time during the last three days observing to make sure there aren’t any issues and to ensure the most efficient flow,” Brady said. “I also like to stop people as they’re heading out the door to ask them what they think and I haven’t heard any negative comments yet.”
Each of the six voting stations set up in the second floor County Commission chambers includes its own touch screen, printer and a 2-foot-high trifold privacy shield.
Poll Manager Marsha Hudson said the privacy shields remind her of the science fair project boards she used for classes when she was a secondary science teacher in Cartersville.
“These are a little shorter and deeper, I think, but more than adequate to protect the privacy of the voter,” Hudson said.
Stations that are right next to each other are set up on angles to prevent a taller person from being able to see the other person’s screen.
In Athens-clarke County, the elections board voted Tuesday to switch from the state’s new voting machines to hand-marked paper ballots amid concerns about ballot secrecy.
Brady said he’d been unaware of the Athens decision but he doesn’t see any problems with protecting ballots
because of the special shields supplied by the state.
At no point does a poll worker see what’s on a barcoded ballot before it is fed into the scanner and deposited in a secured bin, Brady said.
“In an over-abundance of caution, I had the booths arranged differently on Monday,” Brady said. “I spread them out more, but discovered only half of them were being used, so that seemed kind of silly.”
Poll workers ask voters to check their ballots to ensure
accuracy before inserting them into the machine, Hudson said.
Brady said magnifying sheets for voters who have trouble seeing the 10-point type on the ballot are on order and should be arriving soon. He’s had no complaints so far.
Early voting for the March 24 primary runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays through March 20. Weekend opportunities will be March 14 and 15.