Gilmer’s Chief Registrar extends voting hours this week
Election, News June 13, 2022
ELLIJAY, Ga. – Gilmer Citizens are getting a little extra time to vote in this single early voting week before the primary runoff thanks to a decision by the Gilmer Registrar Office. Almost all of Gilmer is focused in on its Post 2 Commissioner election with the runoff between John Marshall and Tom Whatley.
The runoff election day will be on June 21, 2022. To be eligible to vote in this election you must have been registered on or before April 25, 2022. However, the registrars office did make special note on the county website answering citizens questions on if they’d be eligible in specific situations. The county noted that if you voted Democratic or Republican in the May 24, 2022, General Primary/General Nonpartisan you are eligible to vote in the Runoff. If you voted Nonpartisan, you are eligible to vote in the Runoff. If you did not vote in the General Primary/General Nonpartisan, you are eligible to vote in the Runoff.
And now, for those who were concerned about making time to vote in the day, Advanced voting has been extended in this one week. Normally ending at 5:00 p.m. during early voting such as it did for the primary elections on May 24, 2022, this week will see advanced voting extended by one hour each day, going from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. An extra hour for citizens who work till 5 p.m. or for those who work odd shifts.
When asked why she extended the hours, Chief Registrar Tammy Watkins said, “We just felt that since there was only one week of early voting that giving an extra hour for voters to get off work at five and be able to vote would be good.”
With the other local races decided already, there is only the Post 2 Commissioner race and some state democrat positions on the ballot. Early voting occurs at the Gilmer County Board of Registrar, 1 Broad Street, Suite 107, Ellijay, GA. For those voting on election day, normal precincts will be open.
Board of Registrars could become the Board of Elections
News January 14, 2021
ELLIJAY, Ga. – Discussions are continuing amongst the Gilmer County Board of Commissioners and the Gilmer County Probate Office over the introduction and creation of a Board of Elections in the county.
Still hesitant, the commissioners went deeper into talks over the possibility of an Elections Board including make-up and representation on the board. During discussions, the board made reference to representatives from both the republican and democrat parties. However, they did not mention including representatives from third parties in the meeting.
The board did mention third party representation in a previous meeting’s discussion, but did not refresh that sentiment in January through their discussion over the topic. All three commissioners did indicate their hesitation in moving forward quickly with the agenda item, meaning more discussion is likely to come before they have any final or official decisions on the board.
Gilmer County Probate Judge Scott Chastain
Probate Judge Scott Chastain continued to ask the Commissioners for their consideration and urged the importance of having a Board of Elections in the county, especially considering the major issues the country has seen in the most recent elections. Chastain noted the sheer amount of work involved in elections indicating that it was too much for his office and that he wants to rid the Probate Office of all Elections involvement.
Chastain said in the meeting, “I don’t know that it’s a problem for the citizens of Gilmer County as much as it is a problem for my office.”
He asserted the growing weight of Gilmer’s population and growth, saying that increased growth means and increase in the volume of work for his office during elections.
Chastain also repeated the appearance of possible impropriety of having the elected position of a Probate Judge involved in elections including ones he is running in. He said that in such situations as those he is running in, he has to pay someone to watch over the elections process because he legally can’t be involved, yet he is still held responsible should any issues arise.
January provided a prime example of such a situation where Chastain removes himself from the process. The January 5, 2021, runoff election concluded rather smoothly, despite some early issues with voting machines in one precinct, according to Chief Registrar and Elections Manager Tammy Watkins.
Gilmer County Chief Registrar Tammy Watkins
Throughout the night after polls closed, as FYN spent the night present in the Probate Office reporting results, Watkins worked diligently with Associate Judge Tracey Teague and members of Elections, the Probate Office, and Registrar’s Office. Much of the staff was present, with 6 people counting absentee ballots and four others running the counting machines. Yet, Judge Chastain did not appear.
Chastain recently appointed Associate Judge Teague for exactly such situations. As stated in previous Commissioner Meetings and the 2021 Budget meetings, having an Associate Judge would cover situations when Judge Chastain is unavailable due to trianing, meetings, or other circumstances. This came partially at the suggestion of the Council of Probate Judges as many Judges were being quarantined or sent home due to positive COVID tests and exposures, including Judge Chastain.
As the elections superintendent, Probate Judge Chastain is more of an overseer to the elections process with staff of the two offices being the ones who do the counting and processing.
Discussions continued amongst the commissioners and Chastain with indications pointing towards the county going forward with the creation of an elections board. However, rather than rushing through local legislation to put this in, Commission Chairman Charlie Paris said that they will likely take the time to fully flesh out the creation of a board and all the details involved before taking it to state representatives to be put into local legislation. Even with this push, indications pointed that with an early enough vote in the 2022 legislation, Gilmer could be converted into a Board of Elections before the Governor’s Race next year.
Gilmer County Commission Chairman Charlie Paris
Paris went on to say to Watkins that she should take it as a compliment that the board wants to go slow with the process and understand it as meaning that they have been pleased with the handling of the elections and don’t feel the need to rush into a change.
Originally, Chastain came to the Board of Commissioners with two options, creation of an Elections Board or an increase to his stipend for elections work. As such, Watkins was briefly considered to simply take over the Elections Superintendent position in his stead. More recently, the BOC seems entirely focused on a Board rather than a single person.
However, Watkins is still proving to be a top candidate in replacing Chastain in some form. Looking at other counties, it was noted during the meeting that some have the Chief Registrar as Chairperson of the Board of Elections, others have the board selecting the Chief Registrar who operates under that board.
Some comments even seemed to point that the county could consider consolidating the Board of Registrars into the Board of Elections, but, again, details have not been fully confirmed or set on how Gilmer County will create theirs.
The fact is, counties all across Georgia have created and operate their boards in many different fashions. A fact not lost on Gilmer’s BOC as they acknowledged early in the meeting that if the state moves to force every county to adopt a Board of Elections, they could create required standards or structure.
Moving forward, each of the commissioners noted how important or how big of a change this will be for Gilmer County. While it was said that citizens will not see any difference in polls or operations from their point of view, it will entirely change how Gilmer County runs its elections and how it operates internally during the process.
As always, citizens are welcome in the Commissioner’s monthly meetings as well as directly contacting the office of the Board of Commissioners.
Early voting running smoothly despite some questioning software
News December 16, 2020
ELLIJAY, Ga. – Once again, Gilmer County is returning to the ballot box for the early voting procedures for the 2020 elections, though this time addressing the runoff elections.
With the actual election day in January and early voting continuing through the end of 2020, Sherri Jones, boardmember of the Board of Voter Registration and Registrar for Gilmer County, said that the lines have been going smoother than in November. Sharing with FYN an update, she noted that many citizens have commented on the easier and quicker progression through the lines.
A small line forms as voters wait to enter the Registrar’s Office for in-person early voting in Gilmer County.
Jones said the staff has stayed very busy with three check-in stations processing voters and five voting machines in operation. She also noted that they have run four check-in stations if a line starts to build up as well. This is not any different as Jones said they operated similarly in the November Election.
However, Jones said a smaller ballot helps some as people are spending less time on the machines deciding and registering their votes. As they have gone through their first two completed days of operation in early voting, Gilmer saw 576 early voters on Monday, and 601 early voters on Tuesday. As they near completion of their third day, Jones said they have audited their lines and operations several times, never seeing more than a maximum of 15 minutes waiting in line.
But in almost three days, the in-person total of 1,637 in-person voters are only a third of the story. Jones said that between the state and county, they have 3,368 registered ballots in the mail locally and another 42 ballots sent digitally to those in military service overseas.
With only 15 minutes wait-times reported, Gilmer’s voters and registrars are both pleased with way the runoff election is performing in the opening days of early voting.
These are being returned via mail or through the ballot-box drop-off in front of the courthouse. Processing these comes with its own challenges as officials must register the ballots, confirm signatures, and, in some cases, re-mail confirmations. Jones said that a few of their by-mail ballots have had to have confirmation forms sent out to re-affirm signatures that may have been questioned or rejected. Jones said that, for example, they cannot accept ballots signed by a spouse. Citizens voting by mail should keep an eye out just in case they might be one of the few needing to sign a secondary form.
However, with all the normal challenges of operating the early voting process, Jones said the biggest issue they have faced so far is faith in the machines.
Jones said that they have had several people questioning their votes and the Dominion software used in counting them.
She said the office is assuring the public that they have confirmed the operations and counting software after having gone through the November Election, an audit and hand-counted-recount of that election, and a second recount of the ballots through the machines. All of which matched “to the ‘T,'” according to Jones.
They are continuing early voting through the next two weeks until New Years as the office is remaining open except for the recognized holidays. As previously reported from Chief Registrar Tammy Watkins, as of now, early voting will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, December 24 and 25, as well as for New Year’s Day, January 1.
Early voting sees record numbers in absentee ballots in Gilmer
News June 8, 2020
GILMER COUNTY, Ga. – A massive turnout has come for the twin cities and surrounding area as Gilmer’s Voter Registration Office is reporting record numbers in absentee voting.
A total of 1,482 voters stopped by the office during the early voting for the primaries elections staking their votes on local, state, and national offices. Registrar Sherri Jones said that Friday, June 5, 2020, the final day of early voting,was their busiest day of the entire cycle with 161 voters casting their ballots on that day. Yet, that number pales in comparison to another.
Jones said that the state mailed absentee applications to active voters this year in response to the Coronavirus outbreak. Of those applications, a record-breaking 6,117 ballots were requested. Jones said the office has been checking and making signature comparisons and following verification processes. Returning absentee ballots have piled up as they work through the response before tomorrow’s election day.
In fact, they still have not fully processed them all, Jones did confirm, however, that as of 3:00 p.m. on Monday, June 8, 2020, over 4,141 absentee ballots had been received and processed. This does not count the ballots that are still coming in before the deadline and in processing.
As the final hours count down and tomorrow dawns on election day, absentee’s could make up the largest majority of votes counted against individual precincts.
For comparison, the registrar’s office confirmed that the November General Election in 2016, the presidential election, saw the office mailing 725 absentee ballots and receiving 660 ballots in.
In the November General Election of 2018, the office mailed 614 absentee ballots out and received 550 ballots in.
Gilmer has seen large swings in elections in recent years from early voting, but this could be the first time in years, if ever, that the largest swing comes from absentee ballots.