Voters on the south end of Habersham County will soon have their own precinct again. Renovations to the old Sears building in Cornelia are moving along. County Election Supervisor Laurel Ellison says the new precinct will be open in time for advance voting in the presidential primary starting February 19.
The 8,500-square-foot facility, which the county rents, will also house Habersham’s elections office.
More space with plenty of outlets
On Wednesday, Ellison toured the building with Habersham County Manager Alicia Vaughn to check on the progress. The building has been undergoing renovations since last year.
Ellison says the building will give the elections office more space across the board. It will have ample storage space for voting machines, printers, and scanners that cannot be housed at the elections office’s current location inside the county administration building.
The new South Precinct will also have plenty of space for voting machines to be set up on election day.
Last June, Habersham County hired Soque Contracting Services to renovate the building. Owner Tim Canup says the facility is equipped with 139 electrical outlets. He says the vast majority of those are in the voting area. Ellison says having that many outlets in the voting area will allow her staff to set up more machines on voting day and perform the state-mandated Logic and Accuracy tests much more quickly before elections.
Ellison points out there are other advantages to having this much larger space.
The area devoted to Elections Management is equipped with a large window so that the media, poll watchers, and citizens can watch as election workers tally votes. According to Ellison, there will also be cameras in the room transmitting video to a large TV screen just outside the room.
‘Can’t wait!’
Ellison and Vaughn both say they are excited about the new facility and the progress being made.
“I can’t wait to get more space. We’re going to have room for growth, and I hope we will be here for many, many years,” says Ellison excitedly.
It’s been seven months since the county contracted with Soque to do the renovations. At the time, the estimated cost was just over $263,000. Officials say they won’t know the final actual cost until the renovations are complete.
Election officials had anticipated moving into the space sooner, but renovations didn’t begin in earnest until September 2023. Still, Vaughn does not hint at any concerns over the timeline.
“We are very grateful to Canup and his crew for squeezing us in and making it happen,” she says, adding that the new location is about “convenience.”
“We’re excited to have a location where it’s convenient for everyone to come and vote. We want to get people out to vote.”
