Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Turnout on track to set a record in Fayette

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

Election results will be posted online as votes are tallied on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Check The Citizen's website frequently through the night for updates.

More than 5 percent of Fayette County’s registered voters may end up casting ballots this week before the polls even open for Tuesday’s general election.

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 1,000 people a day had taken advantage of advanced voting at the county Elections Office in the Stonewall Village Administration Complex in Fayetteville.

The large turnout surprised county election officials, and seems to back up predictions that this year’s presidential race would see record numbers of voters go to the polls.

Fayette County has more than 67,000 registered voters, according to election supervisor Carolyn Combs. More than 85 percent of Fayette’s voters cast a ballot in the 2000 election.

If just 5,000 people end up voting by the end of the day Friday, that will mean 7 percent of registered voters took advantage of the advanced voting process.

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Cathy Cox predicted that 72 percent of Georgia’s active registered voters, or approximately 3.05 million, will participate in Tuesday’s election.

Cox said her prediction was based on historical trends, information from county registrars concerning absentee ballot requests, advance voting activity and the surge of new registrations added to the rolls over the last several months.

There are currently 4,248,802 citizens on Georgia’s active voter roll eligible to vote in this election. Nearly 491,000 new registrations have been added to the rolls in the last 12 months alone.

Cox’s prediction would, on a percentage basis, nearly equal the recent high water mark for General Election turnout — the 1992 presidential election, when 73.05 percent of Georgia registrants cast ballots. It would also mark the first Georgia election in which more than three million voters participated.

“Voter registrars, county election officials, candidates, pollsters and campaigns are all seeing the same indicators - public interest in this year’s election is exceptionally high and we can anticipate a very heavy turnout next Tuesday,” said Cox, who serves as the state’s chief elections official. “The very large numbers of advance voters yesterday - with several counties processing more voters in one day than they did the entire week prior to the July Primary - underscores just how interested Georgians are in this election.”

Both Cox and local election officials warned that with the high voter interest, waits to cast ballots at polling places could be long on Tuesday.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday at Fayette’s 36 precincts, and close at 7 p.m. But any voters who are in line by 7 p.m. will be allowed to cast a ballot, officials said.

To assist county election officials in coping with the surge of voters this November, earlier this year the Secretary of State’s office used federal funds to purchase nearly 1,000 additional touch screen terminals for distribution to all 159 Georgia counties. Some counties received as many as 12 additional units. Approximately 24,500 touch screen terminals are deployed statewide.

This will be the fifth major statewide election using the electronic machines, which were first used in the 2002 General Election.

In addition to the presidential race, choices on next Tuesday’s ballot include the U. S. Senate seat to replace Senator Zell Miller, one Public Service Commission seat, all 13 Congressional seats, all House and Senate seats in the Georgia General Assembly, a statewide race for a seat on the Court of Appeals and two proposed amendments to the Georgia Constitution.

Locally, voters will decide on a $65 million bond referendum to fund school construction, as well as a five-year Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax to pay for road improvements.

Additionally, a new mayor will be elected in Tyrone, where incumbent Sheryl Lee faces challenger Grace Caldwell.