Gwinnett County commissioners approved a 16-day early voting plan for the hotly anticipated January runoff.
Early voting for the Jan. 5 runoff in Gwinnett will start Dec. 14 and end Dec. 31, with at least eight locations open every day in that period except for Christmas Eve and Christmas. Seven locations — indoor facilities at Bogan Park, Dacula Park, George Pierce Park, Lenora Park, Lucky Shoals Park, Mountain Park Park and Shorty Howell Park — will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The main elections office will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A ninth location, the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds, could be added if it is available. The Gwinnett County Board of Elections and Registrations had not confirmed the fairgrounds' availability when they approved the plan Nov. 10.
Elections director Kristi Royston expects the county will continue to utilize ballot drop boxes for absentee ballots; 23 were available across the county during the general election. The county’s drop box locations and policies may be reviewed by the elections board, as board member Alice O’Lenick expressed concerns about their security at the Nov. 10 meeting. The boxes are monitored by cameras 24 hours a day.
Voters can already request mail-in absentee ballots for the runoff by contacting the county elections office or online through the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.
The expansive early voting plans are intended to accommodate high voter turnout. While runoffs are typically low-turnout elections, voters are expected to be more engaged than usual because both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs.
The runoff includes races between U.S. Sen. David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff; U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock; and Public Service Commissioner Bubba McDonald and Democratic challenger Daniel Blackman. All three incumbents are Republicans.
The three races are subject to runoffs because no candidate received more than 50% of the vote.
Georgia’s Senate races will determine the balance of the U.S. Senate; if Democrats Warnock and Ossoff both win, the legislative body will be split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, a Democrat, as the deciding vote. If one or both of the incumbent Republicans win, Republicans will retain control of the Senate.
Voting will be available at the following locations and times:
- 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.
- 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.
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