Election 2009
What: Municipal elections in Hall County cities
Voter registration deadline: Monday
Early voting: Wednesday through Oct. 30
Election Day: Nov. 3
Runoff: Dec. 1, if needed
Voter ID: Each voter will complete a voter certificate at the polling place. The poll worker will request one of the required forms of photo ID, which includes: Georgia driver’s license; valid voter ID card or other valid ID card issued by a branch, department, agency or entity of Georgia or any other state of the United States; valid U.S. passport; valid employee ID card containing a photograph of the elector and issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of state, city, county or U.S. government; valid military ID card with a photo; valid tribal ID card with a photo. If a voter does not have a valid photo ID or if the voter’s name cannot be located on the voters’ list, a provisional ballot may be cast.
Voter info: Elections Office, 2285 Browns Bridge Road, 770-531-6945
Those who want to cast their ballots in the upcoming Nov. 3 municipal elections have one more day to register if they aren’t already on the voter rolls.
Monday is the deadline to register to vote for the elections, which historically have drawn sparse voter turnout. A 2007 election for Gainesville school board drew 360 voters, just 3.76 percent of the city’s 9,587 active, registered voters.
In that election, only one of the three city council wards was contested.
This year’s Gainesville election turnout could be different, with a nonbinding referendum on the ballot that asks whether Gainesville’s mayor and school board chairman should be elected rather than have the posts rotate among members of the City Council and board.
Hall County, which will include municipal elections in Clermont, Flowery Branch, Gainesville, Gillsville, Lula and Oakwood, has a total of 81,307 active registered voters. There are about 131,000 residents in Hall County above the age of 18, according to the latest U.S. Census estimates.
Hall County Elections Superintendent Charlotte Sosebee said registration has been light in the weeks leading up to the deadline, with perhaps 15 walk-in customers a week at the elections office.
Early voting will be held in Hall County’s cities from Wednesday through Oct. 30.
Voting also is scheduled in cities in Jackson, Lumpkin, Dawson, Habersham, Banks and White counties.
In order to register to vote in Georgia, a person must be a U.S. citizen and legal resident of the municipality and county in which their vote will be cast and be at least 17« years old. Persons serving a sentence for a felony conviction or those deemed mentally incompetent by a court cannot register to vote.
Those unsure of their voter registration status can check it at the Secretary of State’s Web site.