Tuesday March 19th, 2024 5:22AM

Early voting has been 'light' so far, Hall officials say

The first week of early voting has proven "light" so far, according to Hall County Elections officials.

It's not entirely unexpected, given the fact that this year is only a municipal election year, as races for president, senate, congress and governor often pull larger numbers of voters to the precincts.

"Of the five municipalities [in Hall County,] we've had votes in each of them ... the largest being Gainesville. We've had 53 early voters at this point" in Gainesville, said Dr. Tom Smiley, Hall County Elections Board Chairman, in an interview with AccessWDUN around 3 p.m. Monday.

In Gainesville, only one race — a three-candidate push for a city council seat currently held by George Wangemann — is contested among five that are on the ballot, including the mayor's seat.

Flowery Branch voters, deciding contested mayoral and city council posts, tallied 21 early ballots in the first week, according to Smiley.

In Lula, where three men are vying to be the next mayor, residents cast 27 ballots, and in Oakwood, which has only a single contested city council seat, voters cast five votes.

Oakwood's total only outpaces Clermont in Hall County, where four voters cast ballots in the first week to decide a contested mayoral and city council race.

"(This year's) numbers are a little lower than last year. But you have such a period of time to cast an early vote that we may see a big influx in the next couple of days," said Smiley.

As of Monday, Smiley said there had been no issues reported with the county's election equipment.

  • Associated Categories: Local/State News, Politics, Hall County Elections, Georgia News
  • Associated Tags: gainesville, Flowery Branch, hall county, clermont, Lula, oakwood, Hall County elections
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