The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Where problems with voting cropped up, and what was done to address them.
Heavy rain made for a wet afternoon in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, although it was unclear whether the deluge had much of an effect on turnout in Tuesday’s nationally watched runoff between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff.
Scattered problems were reported, although no major issues arose during what officials said was a steady stream of voting throughout the day — despite the deluge.
DeKalb County officials received permission to extend voting hours at two locations — Livsey Elementary and in Embry Hills at Holy Cross Catholic Church — by a half-hour until 7:30 p.m. after officials discovered they had accidentally switched electronic poll books and both locations experienced early-morning problems with checking in voters.
In Fulton County, officials became aware in the afternoon of one Sandy Springs voter who was mistakenly turned away in the morning by a poll worker. They contacted him Tuesday afternoon to get him back to his voting location. The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office was looking into the issue.
Fulton County Elections Director Richard Barron said he was not clear why the poll worker told the man he was not registered, since his name is on the rolls — something the county confirmed after receiving a complaint.
Barron separately said the county had not been able to confirm other social media reports about voters in Sandy Springs being turned away because they had not voted in the race’s original April 18 special election. The county looked into the posts, Barron said, but could not verify them. Any registered voter in the 6th District was allowed to vote in the runoff, regardless of whether he or she cast a ballot in April.
“Most of our complaints have been from people who live outside the district complaining they can’t vote,” Barron said.