Early Voting Ends Today

Today is the final day people can vote early for Tuesday’s primary and non-partisan election in Georgia.

Stephens County Registrar Bill Cochran said that voters have until the end of the day today to vote early and avoid having to wait until Tuesday to cast a ballot.

“Our hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then the next opportunity to vote will be on Election Day, the 24th, at the Senior Center off Rose Lane,” said Cochran.

Poll hours on Tuesday at the Senior Center will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Early voting takes place at the Stephens County Registrar’s Office, which is located in the Stephens County Courthouse Annex on Tugalo Street in downtown Toccoa.

Voters have to remember a picture ID when heading to the polls.

Also, voters will have to choose a ballot style, either Democratic, Republican, or non-partisan.

Local contested primary races including Stephens County Commission Post Two, Stephens County Board of Education At-Large and District 3, Post 2, Sheriff, 50th District State Senate, Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney, and 9th District U.S. House of Representatives, all appear only on the Republican ballot.

The non-partisan Chief Magistrate election appears on all ballots.

The only contested primary race on the Democratic ballot in Stephens County is the U.S. Senate primary. There is also a contested Republican U.S. Senate primary.

Cochran said the polls have remained busy through this last week of early voting.

“We have had a big turnout,” said Cochran on Thursday. “We are currently at almost 2400 early votes, so it has been a big turnout, much bigger than the presidential preference primary back in March.”

Because it has been busy and it is expected to remain so, Cochran said people may encounter lines when voting either today or on Tuesday at the Senior Center.

“Unfortunately, because of the length of time it takes to cast the ballot and to go through everything, there will be lines,” said Cochran. “We are doing everything we can to mitigate that. We just urge to review the ballot, so they know what their selections are and they can go as fast as possible through the process.”

Voters can review sample ballots online by going to the post on our news page for “Sample Ballots and Forum Broadcasts.” Also there, people can listen to audio from last month’s political forums that were broadcast on WNEG.

Sample ballots and other voting information is also available online by going to the “My Voter Page” portion of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office website at www.sos.ga.gov.

Anyone with voting questions can also call the Stephens County Registrar’s Office at 706-886-8954.