Early voting for Georgia’s runoff elections began Monday, including at a giant polling place on the Atlanta Hawks’ home court.
The runoffs will decide races left unsettled after last month’s primaries, including for the U.S. House of Representatives, Fulton County district attorney, the Georgia General Assembly and superior courts.
Three weeks of in-person early voting is available across Georgia, with the biggest voting site in state history located inside State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta.
The arena, equipped with 100 voting stations, is designed to ease long lines and provide a central location available to any of Fulton’s 814,000 registered voters. Eighteen other early voting sites are also available in Fulton.
The arena transformed into a voting site after some voters waited for hours in June to cast their ballots because of social distancing requirements, precinct closures, poll worker shortages and difficulties operating Georgia’s new voting equipment.
Election officials say they’re making changes to avoid similar problems again. They’re improving poll worker training, identifying overcrowded precincts and adding tech support staff at voting locations.
After record turnout in the June 9 primary, with nearly 2.4 million voters, fewer people are expected to participate in the runoff. Runoffs are being held in 94 of Georgia’s 159 counties.
Winners of the Aug. 11 runoff will advance to the Nov. 3 general election.
Any Georgia voter can also request an absentee ballot to vote from home and avoid human contact at the polls during the coronavirus pandemic.
Voting locations, sample ballots and absentee voting request forms can be found on the My Voter Page at www.mvp.sos.ga.gov.
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