Georgia: Fulton, Clayton won't extend voting hours, urge patience

November 03, 2008

Minimum 2-hour waits expected in Fulton

By Mary Lou Pickel, Megan Matteucci
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Officials in Fulton and Clayton counties Monday morning decided against seeking permission to extend polling hours on Election Day.

The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections voted unanimously not to extend hours, saying that they think the number of voting machines per person is sufficient to handle the load."We project all voters will have a reasonable opportunity to cast their ballots," said Board Chairman Justine Boyd. She added that voters can expect a wait time of two hours, minimum.

"We do ask voters to be patient," Boyd said. "We will have challenges with our computers."

Fulton County has one voting unit for every 175 to 186 registered voters who have not voted yet, assuming a 90 percent turnout. The county had turnout of 26 percent during early voting: 160,641 of the county’s 618,024 registered voters have already cast ballots.

The city of Atlanta had requested the extended hours.

Bob Bolia, chairman of Clayton County's Board of Elections and Registration, assured voters that anyone who is in line before 7 p.m. will have the opportunity to cast a ballot.

Clayton has more than 500 voting machines that will be distributed among 58 precincts. County elections director Annie Bright said she believes that the county has enough voting machines to accommodate voters.

About 35,000 of the county's approximately 148,000 registered voters have already cast ballots.

Fulton and Clayton were the only counties considering expanded voting hours on Tuesday.

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution