Early voting light in Coweta County during first week
By SARAH FAY CAMPBELLsarah@newnan.com
Nearly 800 Cowetans had taken advantage for early voting for the July 31 primary by Friday.
As of 2:45 p.m. Friday, 764 early ballots had been cast at the Coweta County Voter Registration Office.
The voter registration office, located at 22 East Broad St. in downtown Newnan, was open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday for early voting.
Weekday hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
This Saturday, the office will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Early voting ends on July 27.
Early voting has been slower than elections officials anticipated.
"We were geared up for a couple of hundred a day," said Joan Hamilton, Coweta voter registrar.
Monday was the biggest day, when 225 voters cast ballot.
But things tapered off after that.
"We had really expected over 200, at least, a day," Hamilton said. "I'm not sure if people are still undecided or if they've just decided they're going to go to the polls this time," she said.
The primary ballot is extensive, with several ballot questions, and a long list of uncontested races that voters must sort through to get to the contested races. But it's not really taking voters a long time to get through the ballot.
"I think the longest anybody has been in there has probably been five minutes," Hamilton said, and those were voters who were having a hard time reading the ballot.
Many of the early voters "have had their little sample ballots with them. They bring them in and they know exactly what they want to vote when they walk in," she said.
You can view your own custom sample ballot on the Georgia Secretary of State's My Voter Page at www.sos.georgia.gov/mvp .
For more information about early voting, contact the Coweta County Voter Registration office at 770-254-2615.
