In between the decorating and the shopping and the baking, add one more task to your holiday to-do list - vote.
Early voting begins at 8 a.m. Monday, Dec. 14 for the hotly-contested Jan. 5 runoff elections between GOP incumbent Senator Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock and GOP incumbent Senator David Perdue and his Democratic challenger John Ossoff. Both the Republicans and the Democrats have poured millions of dollars into advertising for the races, since the outcome will determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
Because the advance voting period falls during the holidays, voters won't have quite as many days to cast early ballots. Polls will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. In most counties, including Hall County, there is no Saturday early voting opportunity.
In addition, there are fewer advance voting sites for the runoff when compared to the General Election. Lori Wurtz, Elections Director for Hall County, said the holidays get the blame for that.
"A lot of people have notified us that they will not be available [to be poll workers] because of the holidays, so we didn't feel like we would have adequate staffing for eight locations," Wurtz said.
Instead, Hall County will open four early voting sites each weekday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with the exception of Dec. 24, Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. The locations and addresses are listed below:
- City of Gainesville Downtown Building (old Turner, Wood and Smith Building) - 100 Brenau Ave., Gainesville, GA 30501
- East Hall Community Center - 3911 P. Davidson Rd., Gainesville, GA 30507
- North Hall Community Center - 4175 Nopone Rd., Gainesville, GA 30506
- Spout Springs Library - 6488 Spout Springs Rd., Flowery Branch, GA 30542
Wurtz said she has plenty of poll workers - at least 100 - who are ready to staff those four locations for the next three weeks. She said there will be at least eight workers on site at any given time during the early voting period.
Absentee ballot requests are pouring in
Wurtz said judging by the number of absentee ballots her office has issued, the run-off will be almost as popular as the General Election.
"We will be busy," Wurtz predicted. "We have so far issued a little over 19,000 absentee by mail ballots and we have accepted 4,400 or so back." [Editor's note: These numbers are accurate as of Friday morning.]
Wurtz said she is concerned that voters will delay their request for an absentee ballot - or delay returning them - which will be a problem with holiday schedules.
"We have been informed by the post office that they will be closing at noon on Thursday, Dec. 31 and the following day is also a holiday for them as well as for our office," Wurtz said. "Please keep this in mind as you consider requesting an absentee ballot by mail and allow your election office ample time to determine eligibility and prepare your ballot, so that you can receive it in a timely manner."
For more information on advance voting in Hall County, follow this link.
