"Flagged" voters can cast ballots

Thousands of Georgians with voter eligibility in question will get to cast ballots in next week’s election--that word from a panel of federal judges. The process of state election officials continuing verification of new voter registration applicants will continue, pending preclearance from U.S. Justice officials.

The panel ruled Georgia needed to get U.S. Justice Department approval before implementation of a new process to use Social Security numbers and data from drivers licenses to check voters’ immigration status. Georgia is one of several states requiring federal approval before a change to election policy, as required by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The federal ruling says the Secretary of State’s office must notify those Georgians whose registration is flagged. Those people will be allowed to cast "challenged ballots"--paper ballots put aside until a discrepancy is resolved. The District Court ruling also states no names can be removed from voter lists until a person admits in writing they are ineligible to vote.

Advance voting could ease long lines

Today marks the beginning of advance voting week in Georgia. Registered voters will have more polling locations open in every county to cast ballots throughout the week, with many locations open until 7pm. Several counties have experienced heavy voter volume and long lines--Gwinnett County as example has reported lines as long as three hours or more during the early voting period which has been ongoing. Updated numbers from the Secretary of State's website show more than a million registered Georgians have already cast ballots in early voting. The general election is eight days away.

Georgia early voting strong 3 weeks in

Nearly 500,000 Georgians have taken advantage of the early voting period in the state, which began September 22nd. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the numbers from the Secretary of State’s office. Of that 500,000 amount, more women than men have already cast ballots. The 500,000 figure is more than advance voting in the 2004 election. Secretary of State Karen Handel has said she’d like to see about a million Georgians vote early, to help relieve the expected crush at the polls November 4th.

Early voting starts today

Early voting begins today across Georgia. Registered voters can cast their ballots ahead of November’s general election either in person or by mail. State election officials are urging those who can to go ahead and cast early to help relieve the expected crush at the polls November 4th. The Secretary of State’s office says it hopes to have about a quarter of all eligible to vote to do so early. You can get more information by going to the Secretaty’s websitre: sos.georgia.gov