Why didn’t Houston County open the polls on the first day of early voting?
While a record number of Georgians voted on the first day of early voting — more than 125,000 ballots were cast Monday — none of those voters were registered to vote in Houston County.
That’s because the only polling place open for early voting in the county, located in Perry, was closed for Columbus Day. The Houston County Board of Elections is typically closed for the federal holiday, said Andy Holland, the election registration assistant supervisor.
“Some counties were open, which will happen when early voting falls on a holiday that not every county is closed for,” Holland said.
Polling places closed across state
Houston County wasn’t the only Board of Elections that did not open for voting on Monday. Around 50 other counties took the holiday as well, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Georgia law requires counties to be open a minimum of three weeks for early voting with one mandatory Saturday voting for federal races, but the law only requires the polls to be open during regular business hours. Because the first day of early voting fell on a day that the office would normally be closed, they are not required to open the polls.
Holidays are only mentioned in the law concerning the mandatory Saturday voting. In the case that a holiday falls on or around the second Saturday before the election, the Board of Elections is allowed to have voting on the third Saturday of voting instead.
“There’s no additional days. We were just closed because the county was closed,” Holland said.
The Board of Elections office in Perry received some questions about the polls being closed on a day with historic turnout for early voting in Georgia, Holland said.
Record turnout
Georgia had around 128,000 people cast their ballots on Monday, which was the highest turnout rate the state has ever seen on the first day of early voting, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Perry office opened at 8 a.m. Tuesday for its first day of voting and had around 775 people cast a ballot. The office will be open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday until early voting polls close on Oct. 30.
“We’ve had a large turnout, which can be expected for the first day of voting for the presidential election. So, we’ve had a lot of people come through. We’ve had a line most of the day, but besides that, we haven’t had any issues with the equipment or anything like that,” Holland said.
Houston to open two additional polling places
Two more early voting locations will open Oct. 19 at the Houston Health Pavilion conference center and at Central Georgia Technical College’s health science building. They will be open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
The Houston Board of Elections added the two satellite locations for convenience, but the board might open those locations earlier in future elections, Holland said. For Saturday voting on Oct. 24, Houston County will have the Board of Elections office in Perry and the Houston Health Pavilion open from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
“There’ll be plenty of opportunity for people to take advantage of voting,” Holland said.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.