ATLANTA — After record-breaking turnout and long lines lasting up to 12 hours, Georgia’s Secretary of State says he is encouraging some counties to use their emergency powers to add more machines to polling places.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray spoke exclusively to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Tuesday about some of the issue that Georgians have seen over the last two days of early voting.
Raffensperger said there have been some minor issues at the polls so far, but said massive voter turnout is the reason for the long lines voters have seen at polling locations across the metro.
Now, Raffensperger says he is encouraging Cobb and Gwinnett counties to add more machines, using the powers they’ve been granted by the state election board.
“Have you all been in touch with the election directors in Cobb and Gwinnett to try to figure out what is going wrong there?” Gray asked Raffensperger.
“We’re in constant contact with all the counties,” Raffensperger said.
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Raffensperger said the lines are primarily the result of overwhelming enthusiasm and turnout.
Tatiyanna McKinnie said she waited in line for 5 hours on Tuesday to vote at the Cobb County Election Office in Marietta.
“I wasn’t going to leave the line so might as well wait,” McKinnie said.
Some county election officials say the state system to check in voters sometimes slows to a crawl.
“We’re hearing from some county officials that the state system is slowing down making it hard to check in voters?” Gray asked Raffensperger.
“Well we’re working on the bandwidth. This morning I know we had a big rush just like rush hour traffic,” Raffensperger said. “We are working with our vendor. I talked to the CEO early this morning. He’s dedicated resources to add additional bandwidth.”
Raffensperger said he can’t order counties to expand their early voting capacity but he is encouraging Gwinnett and Cobb to do just that.
“If they can add additional equipment, that would be one thing. And if they can’t just because of size of the location, then take a look at opening additional precincts,” Raffensperger said.
For months the secretary of state has blasted Fulton County, but Tuesday he praised Fulton leaders for the early voting site at State Farm Arena.
“State Farm, I think, is going to a tremendous success for Fulton County voters. I live in Fulton County, so I appreciate that success,” Raffensperger said.
Gray contacted Cobb County election officials on Tuesday. They told him that they are adding more machines to two library locations and two more early voting locations will open on Monday.
He also learned that the Cobb County public services director was visiting sites on Tuesday to look for other changes.
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