Judge Mullins Holds Final Preparations Meeting for Election

With Election Day fast approaching, Gilmer County is following the State and National trends by setting records for early voting.

As for the current votes, Gilmer has already hosted 4,909 early voters as of noon Monday, October 31. Monday itself saw 217 early voters before noon despite being a holiday. However, Probate Judge and Election Superintendent Anita Mullins says this is not an indication that our actual Election Day will be slower. In fact, she expects one of the busiest elections ever. Many topics from the Presidential Election to the much debated Amendment 1 (Opportunity School Districts) will be drawing voters out in ever increasing numbers.

Judge Mullins held her final meeting for preparations for the poll workers in Gilmer County on Saturday, October 22. Going into detail on what the workers could expect and how to handle situations, the meetings are set to prepare these volunteers for the single day that Gilmer County comes out to voice it’s choice on these topics.

November 8 will open Gilmer County’s Election Polls at 7:00 am and conclude at 7:00 pm and will conclude the last election that current Judge Anita Mullins will oversee. Any possible run-offs, according to incoming Probate Judge Scott Chastain, would be held in January after Mullins leaves office. However, Scott Chastain has already begun the transition process by shadowing Mullins through both the elections and every day Probate Court activities.

With it being the final meeting, and final election, for Judge Mullins, her Election Team decided to memorialize the occasion and presented Judge Mullins with a plaque for her many years of service to both the County and Elections. Presented by Gary Watkins, Election Supervisor, it became quite emotional as the two have served together for 23 years overall.

Mullins will officially turn over the Elections Superintendent position as a part of the duties of Probate Judge to Scott Chastain on the first of the year.

Chastain stated at the meeting he was used to seeing the workers at his station, but had no idea the number of people needed to carry out an election like this. Still, Election services are continuing to ask for more people to volunteer in future elections as the need is always growing. While Poll Workers are provided a stipend for their work, most still call themselves volunteers for the full day of work they handle.

Mullins confirmed with FYN that the large majority of current poll workers are around mid to late 60’s. As each year sees more volunteers not returning, the need for replacements drives the constant request. Though the time has already passed for our current election, you can find more on volunteering in this process at the Courthouse in Downtown Ellijay.