Those voters who want to potentially avoid long lines for the primary election are encouraged to take advantage of early voting, according to Jackson County elections supervisor Lori Wurtz.
Early voting will continue through Friday, July 27. The primary election is Tuesday, July 31.
This Saturday, July 21, early voting will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Jackson County Administration Building, located at 67 Athens Street in downtown Jefferson.
Early voting is available in Jefferson at the county administration building Monday through Friday, July 27, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Starting, Monday, July 23, early voting will also be available during the week in Commerce and Braselton. Voters may cast their ballots at the Commerce Recreation Department or Braselton Police and Municipal Court Building through Friday, July 27.
At a town hall meeting on Thursday in Hoschton, Wurtz encouraged voters to become familiar with their ballots before heading to the polls. With its various elected boards and party affiliations, there are 117 different ballots available in Jackson County for the primary, she said. Many voters have also been affected by redistricting.
Wurtz urged voters to look at their sample ballots at the Georgia Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.ga.gov/mvp.
She further pointed out that voters will be asked if they want a Republican, Democratic or non-partisan ballot. In Jackson County, all of the candidates for local races qualified as Republicans — including the sheriff and county commission chairman. There were no Democrats that qualified for the local races.
Wurtz explained that if voters want a Democratic ballot — such as to vote in a statewide race — that ballot won’t contain the candidates for Jackson County sheriff. Poll workers are not allowed to point that out to voters, she added.
Both the Republican and Democratic ballots include a referendum question about a one-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects, called the T-SPLOST. They also include non-partisan races, such as judges.
As of Thursday, more than 1,100 people had cast ballots during advanced voting in Jackson County, Wurtz said.
Election officials are expecting a higher turnout — and thus longer lines at the polls — for the primary election. Wurtz urged voters to take advantage of advanced voting to avoid potentially longer waits on election day on July 31.