Election day blues an all-too-familiar tune in Fulton County

It’s all right to forgive Fulton County for feeling paranoid. But some people are having a hard time forgiving the county for voting problems during the June 9 Georgia primary.

Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Democratic legislators from the county have both piled on blame against Fulton County officials for lines of voters that stretched for hours on election day.

Raffensperger said that while other parts of the state had problems, especially in more densely populated areas with high turnout, Fulton County was responsible for 70% of the trouble.

Fulton County, which has experienced election problems for decades, ran into a number of difficulties in running the primary that were tied directly to the coronavirus. First, the county lost about 35 of its 198 precincts, especially at churches that refused to allow people inside because of concerns about the virus. Poll workers, many of them 70 years or older and at greater risk if they contracted COVID-19, backed out of the job. And social distancing meant a limited number of people could enter polling areas at the same time.

There were also problems, however, connected to the state’s new $104 million voting system. Some poll workers lacked sufficient training, and they struggled to start computers, log in and hook up the system correctly. Technical support numbered only 175 staffers across the entire state on election day.

Raffensperger said he wants to bump up support staff for the November general election, placing a technician in each of the state’s 2,600-plus precincts. He also plans to increase hands-on training for poll workers; add polling places and send more equipment to high-turnout precincts; and create a state website where voters can request the ballots themselves.

Meanwhile, Fulton County Democratic legislators introduced a bill to dissolve the county’s elections board.

“Fulton voters have fundamentally lost faith in the state and the county as institutions that can administer properly,” said state Rep. Josh McLaurin, a Democrat from Sandy Springs who said he waited 4½ hours to vote on election day.