A state election official says Habersham County’s active registered voter list was updated before early voting began in the Special Republican House District 28 Primary.
Over the weekend, Habersham County’s Election Supervisor Laurel Ellison issued an email notice to media updating the total of active registered voters in the district. The figure dropped from 5,218 in December to the current number of 5,033. That’s a difference of 185 voters.
State Director of Elections Chris Harvey tells Now Habersham those voters were removed from the list for a variety of reasons; some moved out of the district, others died. Harvey says both candidates were given the updated list to review back in March. The correct number of active registered voters could have been pulled then but there was some confusion among state and local election officials.
“She (Ellison) was originally told to use the same numbers (from December) not realizing that a more accurate number would be from the express poll,” Harvey explains.
Habersham wasn’t the only county in the district to recently update its number of active registered voters. Sources tell us Stephens County did, too.
Impact?
The change in numbers should not impact the election, since the list was updated prior to early voting. Still, in a race that’s now drug on for nearly a year, little seems certain. “Sometimes people make mistakes,” says Harvey. “We’ve done everything we can to work with the counties to make sure they have what they need to execute this election.”
Habersham County election officials, too, have been working to ensure things run smoothly. The results of both previous GOP House District 28 primaries – on May 22, 2018 and the redo on Dec. 4, 2018 – were tossed by a judge due to voting errors in Habersham.
Ellison says county election officials conducted their normal 1 ½ – 2 hours of poll worker training. In addition, they gave hands-on training to poll managers, assistant poll managers and Advance poll workers in how to use the electors list and how to issue Provisional Ballots.
Strong early turnout
Republican Candidates Dan Gasaway and Chris Erwin are vying to win the second redo of the district’s May 22, 2018 GOP primary on April 9. Early voting results indicate the interest in this third primary is just as intense as in the ones prior.
Nearly as many people turned out for early voting this go around (15.5%) as turned out in December (16%) when the first election redo was held. Both percentages are higher than Absentee/Early/Advance voting in the original primary last May, when turnout in Habersham was just a little over 11%.
In all, 783 of the district’s 5,033 active registered voters cast Early/Advance/Absentee ballots in Habersham between March 18 and April 5.
With Election Day less than 24 hours away, election officials and voters alike are hoping for a definitive result.
“I have never dealt with an election that’s on its third go around,” says Harvey. “We’ve dealt with some close margins before but to have numerous elections that are this tight is certainly unusual, in my experience.”
Election day is Tuesday, April 9. Polls will be open at the Aquatic Center, First Baptist Church of Cornelia, and at Mt. Airy City Hall (city voters only) from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Eligible to vote?
If you’re not sure whether you’re eligible to vote in this primary click HERE or call your local election officials. You may reach them at (706) 839-0170 in Habersham, (706) 677-6260 in Banks County, and (706) 886-8954 in Stephens County.
