Today is last day to vote early

♦ Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Today is the last day of early voting before the election on Tuesday and, as of noon Thursday, over 3 million votes had been cast in Georgia.

According to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, over 2 million of those are in- person early votes and more than 1 million are absentee ballots.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger recommends voters take absentee ballots to their local elections office or a ballot dropbox, instead of using the over- stressed U.S. Postal Service.

Floyd County has two drop boxes — one stationed outside the Elections Office at 12 E. Fourth Ave. and one outside the Rome-floyd County Library at 205 Riverside Parkway.

Elections Board member Melanie Conrad said they hope to have three more placed before election day.

They’re slated to go at the Thornton Recreation Center, 102 North Floyd Road; Gilbreath Recreation Center, 110 Garden Ave. in Lindale; and Anthony Recreation Center, 2901 Garden Lakes NW Blvd.

The elections office has begun preparing and scanning absentee ballots early.

The State Election Board passed a rule earlier this year allowing counties to begin scanning — but not counting — absentee ballots up to two weeks and a day before Election Day. The state’s new voting system, which divides the scanning and the tabulating into two separate steps, made that possible.

However, absentee ballots are accepted up until the polls close so it’s likely there will still be some to process Tuesday.

On election night, each county uploads the vote totals directly into the state’s website. Returns will be available as they come in at sos.ga.gov. The secretary of state’s office now expects around 5.5 million Georgians to vote in the Nov. 3 election, vastly more than the 4.1 million votes tallied in 2016.

On Election Day, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. To find your polling place, visit the Georgia My Voter Page website at mvp.sos.ga.gov.

This year, the Barkers Precinct has been moved to VFW Post 4911 at 2623 Cedartown Highway since the Renaissance Marquis assisted living facility is taking precautions due to the coronavirus.