With hundreds of people waiting in line outside the polls in Marietta on a chilly Saturday morning, Cobb County is on track for a “historic turnout” for a gubernatorial election, according to a top election official for Cobb County.
Janine Eveler, director of elections and registration for Cobb County, said wait lines at the main election office on Whitlock Avenue were between three to four hours Saturday morning, and she recommended voters consider heading to the polls at Jim R. Miller Park Event Center where wait times were closer to an hour, maybe even shorter times.
Eveler expects between 1,600 and 1,700 people will vote Saturday at the main election office of Cobb County, up from 1,000 people who voted on the Saturday in 2014.
She said the turnout is on track to be historic for a gubernatorial race, and said the numbers are more similar to what they see for presidential elections.
It was a cold morning — hovering in the low 50s — but virtually everyone stayed in line, prepared to wait it out to make their choices for the midterm election. Many people were bundled up, some even wrapped in blankets.
Some people brought books, others perused their smart phones. Many toted hot coffee — all to help pass the time as comfortably as possible
Saturday is a state-mandated day for counties to provide sites for early voting, and some metro counties also will have polling places open Sunday for early voters. After all, the weekday lines have been long at many locations during the past two weeks.
According to Gwinnett's official tracker of wait times at polling sites, voters there were faring better, seeing short wait times at its polling places that were open Saturday. By late morning, the longest wait registered at 10 minutes.
At Cobb’s main election site, many said they couldn’t get to the polls during the week because of their jobs.
Dave Hensley, a 25-year-old investment banker who lives in Marietta, said it was more convenient to vote on a Saturday.
“It’s important to vote,” he said. “I’ve been exercising my right to vote since I was 18.”
After the upcoming week of early voting ends Friday, voters' last chance to make their picsk will come Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6.
To find early voting hours and locations for your county, use the Georgia Secretary of State My Voter page, or choose your county from the list below.
The Secretary of State link is also a good place to make sure you are registered to vote and check on information about absentee ballots.
Use these links to find early voting locations and hours for Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Clayton or another metro Atlanta county.
» Check back at AJC.com today for updates on early voting in metro Atlanta.
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