More than 175,000 Henry County residents are registered to vote, and they will have the opportunity to do so this Fall in 37 different precincts – none of which will be located in schools.
That was revealed by county elections director Tina Lunsford in a report to the Henry County Board of Commissioners at its August 6 regular meeting. She encouraged all registered voters to check their precinct locations, since some have changed, and to take advantage of early voting in advance of the November 5 election day if at all possible.
All polling places have been fully transitioned out of the county’s schools, completing a process that was a few years in the making. Concerns over student safety, voter accessibility, parking constraints and a shift of voting areas were all factors which contributed to the initiative, Lunsford said. Three of the five elections which took place in 2018 were held when children were in school.
Municipal elections are on tap in all four of the county’s cities, as is customary during an odd-numbered year. In 2019, however, there are two ballot measures that pertain to all county residents – the proposed extension of the SPLOST and the special election to fill the unexpired term of tax commissioner David Curry, who was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to lead the Georgia Department of Revenue and assumed that office in May.
The problem with this for voters within the city limits is that they have to travel to two different polling locations on election day, Lunsford said. But any city voter who takes advantage of early voting can cast both ballots at one time.
Early voting begins October 14 at the county’s election headquarters in McDonough, and other locations will be available in Fairview, Hampton, Locust Grove and Stockbridge. Any Henry County voter can cast his or her ballot at any of those five sites, regardless of residence address, but all voters who wait until election day must visit their designate precinct polling place.
The elections office has taken considerable measures to inform citizens about the upcoming election. Public service announcements have been placed in newsletters distributed by the Water Authority, Tax Commissioner’s Office and Senior Services department. Officials have also been working to get the word out in apartment complexes, homeowner associations and churches, among other places, according to Lunsford.
New voter equipment will be rolled out this fall in 10 pilot counties across Georgia, and Henry County has requested to be in that group. The new equipment will be available everywhere in the state by the March 2020 presidential preference primary.
For the upcoming election the county will have to contract with an outside ballot printer because the existing ones cannot be used. That will be at a cost of about $60,000, Lunsford said. Voters will receive actual printouts of their votes that they cast on the touchscreens, so that they can see their votes in print and know they are being counted as they intended.
As of the August 6 presentation, there were currently 175,584 registered voters in Henry County and of that total, District 2 has the largest percentage. Since January, the elections office has processed 39,808 applications and of those applications, 7,253 were first-time voters.
