SCHOOL/ELECTIONS UPDATES REGARDING POWER OUTAGES

NOTICE FROM STEPHENS COUNTY ELECTION SUPERVISOR BRUCE CARLISLE: VOTING WILL TAKE PLACE ON NORMAL SCHEDULE TODAY

Carlisle told WNEG News that, despite the courthouse and downtown Toccoa being without power this morning, voting will still begin at 8 a.m. this morning and continue through 5 p.m. If the power is not back on by 8 a.m., there is an emergency protocol in place that will be followed. Backup batteries have been maintaining necessary computer and security features running since the power went out, and will run the ballot scanners for as long as they last, which Carlisle said would only be an hour or so past 8 a.m. due to them having been used most of the night. State mandated procedures regarding circumstances such as this during voting include the use of paper “emergency” ballots once backup batteries are no longer working. These emergency ballots are exactly the same as the absentee ballots, and voters who come to the courthouse will be able to fill those ballots out and they will be stored securely in the same manner as the absentee ballots, and opened on election day to be tabulated.