Thousands of voters wait for hours as early in-person voting starts in Georgia

ATLANTA, Ga. — The chance to cast ballots on Georgia’s first day of in-person early voting Monday had thousands of people waiting for hours to make their voices heard.

Eager voters endured waits of six hours or more in Cobb

County, which was once solidly Republican but has voted for Democrats in recent elections, and joined lines that wrapped around buildings in solidly Democratic DeKalb County. They also turned out in big numbers in north Georgia’s Floyd County, where support for President Donald Trump is strong.

With record turnout expected for this year’s presidential election and fears about exposure to the coronavirus, election officials and advocacy groups have been encouraging people to vote early, either in person or by absentee ballot.

Many answered the call on Monday, showing up in numbers that overwhelmed some locations.

Cobb County Elections and

Registration Director Janine Eveler said the county had prepared as much as much as it could, “but there’s only so much space in the rooms and parking in the parking lot.”

“We’re maxing out both of those,” she said. “People are double parking, we have gridlock pretty much in our parking lot.”

Hundreds of people slowly moved along a line that snaked back and forth outside Cobb’s main elections office in a suburban area northwest of Atlanta. Good moods seemed to prevail, even though some people said at 1 p.m. that they’d been waiting for six hours.

A brief cheer went up when a pizza deliverer brought a pie to someone in line.