By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Area voter turnout about 30 percent so far
Some officials predict 40 percent turnout before Election Day
Placeholder Image
People have been lining up to vote early across Georgia, with some 1.4 million ballots already cast. In many Northeast Georgia counties, about one-third of the registered voters already have cast ballots.

"Through (Tuesday) we’ve had 10,358 voters participate in (early and advance) voting," said Brenda Fulcher, the Jackson County voter registrar.

According to Fulcher, there are about 30,000 registered voters in Jackson County.

Early voting began in Jackson on Sept. 22 and concluded on Oct. 24. Advance voting began Monday and will end Friday.

Voter registration staff reported that the wait times at each of the three advance voting locations in Jackson have remained short at about 15-20 minutes.

The one-third turnout in Jackson County is similar to the turnout in several Northeast Georgia counties.

Since early voting began in September, Hall election officials have collected more than 20,000 votes, or about a quarter of the county’s approximate 82,000 registered voters. Some 1,800 people voted on Tuesday alone, according to Charlotte Sosebee-Hunter, Hall County’s interim elections director. On Wednesday, the line of people waiting to vote stretched out the door of the office and wrapped around the building. Wait times were about 20-30 minutes, Sosebee-Hunter said.

"We want every voter to have a good experience," Sosebee-Hunter said. "We’re moving them as quickly as we can."

In Lumpkin County, 30 percent of the county’s 14,766 active registered voters already had voted as of Tuesday.

In Dawson County, about 35 percent of the county’s 12,949 registered active voters had cast their ballots as of Tuesday.

Georgia’s expanded early voting this year has proven wildly popular, with election officials in Hall, Dawson and Lumpkin counties all predicting that at least 40 percent of their active registered voters will have voted early by week’s end.

Long lines have been reported in many metro Atlanta areas and across the country in areas where early voting is offered. In Florida, for example, voting lines have been so long that Gov. Charlie Crist signed an executive order Tuesday extending early voting hours.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.