A look at early voter turnout in Hall for Senate runoff

Brian Wellmeier, The Times, Gainesville, Ga.
·2 min read
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Nov. 30—Turnout for early voting in the U.S. Senate race in Hall is nearly three times higher than the number of people who voted early in the first two days of the general election.

The runoff between Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker was set for Dec. 6 after neither candidate received 50% of the vote needed in Georgia to secure victory in the Nov. 8 election. Warnock had 49.4% of the vote to Walker's 48.5%.

With only five days of early voting before the runoff, the 14,989 people who've already gone to the polls Monday and Tuesday exceeds the 5,359 who voted in the first two days of early voting in the general election — which gives voters a period of around two weeks to cast an early ballot.

Almost 1,600 absentee ballots have been accepted by Hall County election officials.

So far, no issues have been reported at any of the early-voting precincts, according to Elections Manager Paige Thompson.

Fair Street Neighborhood Center was one of five approved Hall County precincts, with voters going in the front entrance and coming out of the back of the building within minutes on Wednesday.

"We don't like waiting in line (on Election Day)," Bruce Bausman said. "It was a very easy, efficient process. I'm glad to see the turnout...everybody we know is voting early — that seems to be the thing to do."

The five designated locations for early voting include North Hall Community Center, East Hall Community Center, Mulberry Creek Community Center, Spout Springs Library and Fair Street Neighborhood Center — each of which are open to voters between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. through Friday.

The absentee by mail ballot box is located in the Elections Office on the lower level of the Hall County Government Center. Voters can deliver ballots to the dropbox there between 7 a.m. — 7 p.m., and all ballots must be received by the Elections Office by 7 p.m. Tuesday, December 6.

There is no voting on Saturday or Monday before the Dec. 6 runoff, which is the last day to vote before polls close at 7 p.m.