ATLANTA (AP) – Legislation filed Friday aims to reduce long lines at Georgia polling places on election day. It would also give county election officials flexibility to determine how many voting machines they think they need for elections that generally have lower turnout.
Georgia’s elections have been under scrutiny in recent years. Voting rights advocates have complained about long lines that they say deprive some people of their right to vote because they’re unable or unwilling to wait in lines that can sometimes take hours.
Georgia’s new $103 million voting system is set to be used for the first time statewide, starting on Monday, when early voting for the state’s March 24 presidential primary begins. The new machines, called ballot-marking devices, require voters to make choices on a touchscreen, then retrieve a printed-out paper ballot that’s run through a ballot scanner to record their votes.
If voters have to wait in line for more than an hour before checking in to vote in a precinct with more than 2,000 registered voters, election officials would have to make changes before the next general election, the new legislation says. They would have to reduce the size of the precinct so it includes fewer than 2,000 registered voters or they could provide additional voting equipment and/or poll workers.
For November general elections in even-numbered years, precincts would be required to have one voting machine for every 250 registered voters, which is what’s required for all elections under current law. The new legislation would allow county election officials to provide more or fewer machines than that for any other election, including primaries or runoffs, based on the type of election, expected turnout, the number of early or absentee ballots cast and any other relevant factors.