ATLANTA, Ga. (CW69 Information at 10) — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stated, as of Wednesday morning, greater than 241,000 early voters had solid their ballots. “Georgians are getting out to vote in file numbers,” Raffensperger stated.
He stated 1.6 million voters had requested absentee ballots, and practically 500,000 had despatched them in. “I’m so excited that our voters are so obsessed with this election cycle and that they’re getting out to vote,” he stated.
Raffensperger stated social distancing and having to wipe down tools throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to among the lengthy traces, and so has the restricted bandwidth, due to the massive turnout.
“Our vendor’s been engaged on that, together with our workers, to verify we’re another optimizations additionally, and we’ll most likely have that performed by the tip of this week,” he stated.
Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger provides an replace on record-breaking early voting and addresses points on the polls. pic.twitter.com/qjRfgAhwBk
— Valencia E. Jones (@vjreports3) October 14, 2020
Workers members additionally must mark individuals off the record who initially requested absentee ballots however now wish to vote in particular person.
Non-partisan voter advocate teams, just like the New Georgia Project, stated they’re watching the method. CW69 spoke with the organization in June for a narrative recapping the problematic Major Election.
“Sure, there are deficiencies in Georgia’s election system. Sure, we’re working to advocate, and in some situations sue, to get them mounted,” stated New Georgia Challenge CEO Nse Ufot.
Ufot stated they’re inspired to know there’s a plan in place, by way of Raffensperger’s plan to supply choices for voters. Their major focus is to proceed getting individuals to vote, whether or not it’s in particular person or by mail or absentee voting.
“One of many objectives of voter suppression is to not simply block individuals from taking part, however to discourage individuals from taking part,” she stated.
Voter advocates are hoping individuals gained’t be discouraged by prior points at polling areas, they usually’re nonetheless encouraging them to vote early and properly earlier than Election Day on November 3.
