Early voting set to start on Monday, Feb. 8 for primary

Voter registration for the coming presidential primary is now closed, and local residents who wish to skip a trip to the precinct still have time to ask for absentee ballots.

Polk County’s first round of elections are nearly here, and starting on Monday, Feb. 8 local residents will be able to go to the polls to make their choices known for the presidential primaries set for the first day of March.

Karen Garmon, Director of Elections, is encouraging local residents to plan on voting early to avoid long lines ahead of the March 1 primary day.

“We’re really, really, really pushing early voting this year,” she said.

Both the Board of Elections office in Cedartown and Rockmart’s Nathan Dean Center will play host to three weeks of early voting starton Feb. 8, continuing through the end of the month. A mandatory Saturday voting day on Feb. 20 will also be held in both locations, from 9 a.m to 4 p.m.

Early voting will take place daily at the Board of Elections office starting on Monday, Feb. 8 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, at the County Administration office at 144 West Ave., Cedartown.

Rockmart’s early voting precinct at Nathan Dean Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays as well.

Garmon said with the likelihood of large turnout during the March presidential primary, she also is asking residents to consider not just voting early, but voting from home.

“We’re also encouraging people to take advantage of absentee ballots this year,” she said. “All you have to do is call our office and request one, and we’ll send the application and then the ballot to your home address once the application is returned.”

She said the deadline to get absentee ballots in is Friday, Feb. 26 in order for them to be counted in the primary.

The first round of voting in Polk County in 2016 will determine the republican and democratic primary candidates.

Leaders in the Republican field include Donald Trump, United States Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Rand Paul, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, among others.

The democratic primary field includes former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

Qualifying for local elections will be coming up in March as well, and primaries later in the spring.