Roughly 10,000 residents have voted early in DeKalb County, according to data posted on the county’s website Monday. Of that amount, approximately 5,000 were absentee ballots.
“For a gubernatorial election, it’s higher than average,” DeKalb County election director Erica Hamilton told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone interview.
First-day advance voting turnout totals were 247 in 2010 and 2,098 in 2014, Hamilton said. This year’s first day totals have been comparable to the historic 2008 election.
“It’s almost close to those numbers,” she said. “Which is a good thing, it means people are coming out to vote.” The county has also received a high number of absentee ballots for this midterm election.
The high totals are likely due to the historic nature of the gubernatorial race in which Georgia could see its first black female governor in Stacey Abrams.
Hamilton said Tuesday, much like Monday, was a busy voting day.
“It wasn’t quite like yesterday where we had a big rush,” she said, “but it’s a steady constant flow all day today.” Tuesday’s totals were not readily available, but should be updated online by 8:30 p.m.
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The county reported few early voting hiccups and wait times less than 10 minutes for the first day. However, the county did have complaints about absentee ballot application processing.
Decatur resident Marvette Critney, 50, said she called the DeKalb elections board inquiring about the status of an absentee ballot request, filed Oct. 9, when she was told the elections board was bombarded with emails.
“(The woman on the phone) told me ‘we have thousands of emails,’ but she also wasn’t sure which email inbox (my ballot request) had come to,” Critney said in a phone interview Monday.
DeKalb spokesman Andrew Cauthen said the county has received less than five complaints about the issue.
“In past elections, the turnaround period was 24 hours for our office,” Cauthen said in an emailed statement. “With the increase in requests, the turnaround period has increased to a maximum of 3 days, which is allowed by Georgia Law.”
Critney, 50, said her son, 23-year-old Troy Nelson, who is in the Air Force and stationed in Japan, eventually received his ballot electronically on Monday.
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