Gwinnett County begins processing ballots for Election Day

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By WSBTV.com News Staff

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — We are seeing record-shattering early voter turnout in Georgia and across the county.

The final numbers for Georgia are a total of 3.9 million people have already voted, including 2.6 million in-person early voting and 1.2 million mailed ballots returned and accepted.

Election officials are already processing those mailed in ballots, especially in the critical county of Gwinnett.

Stay with Channel 2 Action News for updates on election preps in Georgia

The poll workers have been hard at work these last few weeks and into election week processing thousands of ballots ahead of Tuesday.

“The first thing they have to do is check to make sure the signatures match that the oath has been signed and then they have to enter that information into the state system," said Communications for Gwinnett County Joe Sorenson. “In some cases, some of the ballots are damaged and there are other issues with ballots where sometimes they cant be read, extraneous marks.”

Poll workers will contact voters if they find error on ballots.

“We’ve got people here and they’re working in groups of three to basically copy the ballot over into something that will run through the scanner,” Sorenson said.

Gwinnett County has gained national attention during this election due to its changing demographics.

Some voters believe they will see another historic turn out on Election Day on Tuesday. Sorenson said the county is prepared for a possible influx of voters, especially if it takes days to get a final vote count.

“They’re not going to rush anything. They’re going to go through their process. They’re going to go through their steps," Sorenson said.

Sorenson said they are taking security seriously, specifically when it comes to voter fraud.

Poll workers are required to take an oath and there are poll watchers and other undisclosed measures in place to help maintain the integrity of the election, Sorenson said.

“It’s a rigorous process that Georgia has for absentee by mail voting," Sorenson said. "From the check-in through this entire process of getting scanned. I’m very confident in the process and Georgia voter should be as well.”

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