The number of ballots cast in Gwinnett County’s first week of in-person early voting already exceeds the number cast over the entire three weeks of early voting in the 2016 presidential election, according to county numbers.
Between Monday, Oct. 12 and Sunday, Oct. 18, 70,226 people voted at nine early voting locations across Gwinnett. In 2016, 58,708 advance in-person ballots were cast; only one location, the Gwinnett County elections office, was open for three weeks, with seven more locations opened later in the early voting period.
On the first day of early voting last Monday, turnout was robust as soon as polls opened, and multiple county voting sites saw hours-long waits to cast a ballot. Some voters waited more than eight hours at the main elections office.
Issues with state voter software slowed lines across the metro area. Social distancing measures to protect voters and poll workers from coronavirus meant fewer voting machines, so fewer people were able to vote at a time.
But by the end of the week, the software bugs were fixed and the county was able to add more voting machines at the main elections office, which faced the longest wait times, by moving the entire queue outside of the building. By Sunday afternoon, the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds had no wait to vote, and most locations had an estimated wait of less than 30 minutes. Most estimated waits were under an hour Monday afternoon.
The busiest day in the county was Friday, Oct. 16, when 12,732 people cast ballots. Tuesday, Oct, 13, when there were still estimated wait times of eight hours at the elections office, saw the fewest ballots cast all week: 7,865.
Early voting is available every day through Oct. 30 at the following locations:
- Gwinnett Voter Registrations and Elections Beauty P. Baldwin Building, 455 Grayson Hwy, Suite 200, Lawrenceville, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Bogan Park Community Recreation Center, 2723 N. Bogan Road, Buford, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Lenora Park Gym, 4515 Lenora Church Road, Snellville, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Dacula Park Activity Building, 2735 Old Auburn Road, Dacula, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Lucky Shoals Park Community Recreation Center, 4651 Britt Road, Norcross, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- George Pierce Park Community Recreation Center, 55 Buford Hwy, Suwanee, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Gwinnett County Fairgrounds, 2405 Sugarloaf Pkwy, Lawrenceville, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Mountain Park Activity Building, 1063 Rockbridge Road, Stone Mountain, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Shorty Howell Park Activity Building, 2750 Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Advance in-person votes cast per day in Gwinnett County
Monday, Oct. 12: 8,703
Tuesday, Oct. 13: 7,865
Wednesday, Oct. 14: 8,593
Thursday, Oct. 15: 11,612
Friday, Oct. 16: 12,732
Saturday, Oct. 17: 11,187
Sunday, Oct. 18: 9,574
Advance in-person votes cast in the first week of early voting in Gwinnett County by polling place
Gwinnett Voter Registrations and Elections Beauty P. Baldwin Building: 7,075
Bogan Park Community Recreation Center: 9,063
Dacula Park Activity Building: 6,787
Gwinnett County Fairgrounds: 11,867
George Pierce Park Community Recreation Center: 9,203
Lenora Park Gym: 7,197
Lucky Shoals Park Community Recreation Center: 5,431
Mountain Park Activity Building: 6,319
Shorty Howell Park Activity Building: 7,324
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