With early voting in progress for March 24's presidential preference primary, Dade poll workers say they and local voters are doing fine with Georgia's new voting machines--so far, anyway.
The new voting process is a four-step process. Voters vote on a touch screen, but a paper ballot is then produced which the voter must place in a box to be counted. Elections supervisor Lowanna Vaughn had worried that voters would instead abscond with the ballot as if it were a receipt. But with Paula Bradford (pictured above) running intercept, things were progressing smoothly when The Planet popped by last week.
The officials said voting had been fairly anemic. With only one name on the Republican presidential preference ballot, and only two contenders left at this point for the Democratic presidential nomination, voters were not turning out enthusiastically though in other years the presidential preference primary had been one of the heavier ones in terms of participation.
Early voting continues until next Friday, March 20, Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday voting is this Saturday, the 14th, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. All early voting is at the Administrative Building.
Early voting begins April 27 for the general primary, which is on May 19. That will be the big day for local elections since in all contested races all candidates are running as Republicans. Voters in Dade will also decide whether or not to renew the county SPLOST (special purchase local option sales tax), which the county and city rely on almost exclusively to finance roads, equipment and buildings.
