MILTON, Ga. — In the last hour of Election Day at the Community Center at Milton City Park and Preserve, around 100 voters cast their ballots with direction from poll clerks.
Going down the line of tables at Milton’s second voting precinct, voters checked in on poll pads and received their ballot as well as a numbered strip to be given to a poll clerk standing by the ballot box. The strips were used for reconciliation.
“Have you reviewed your ballot?” poll clerks asked, before voters slid their ballot into the ballot box and picked up a sticker.
After 5 p.m., voters who arrived at the incorrect location could cast a valid provisional ballot. A mother and daughter, set for Precinct 1 at Milton City Hall, took up the opportunity with the help of Poll Manager Judy Burds.
Next to Burds’ desk was a sitting area, used by a poll watcher for the Democratic Party of Georgia. He had been there since 1 p.m., keeping occupied with a book, “Democracy Awakening” by Heather Cox Richardson.
The poll watcher also checked in with voters if he overheard an issue, like one case where a voter was issued an absentee ballot but didn’t use it. When that happens, Burds said the voter completes an affidavit and casts a ballot as normal.
After the polls officially closed at 7 p.m. and the last voter left, poll clerks began peeling off signs from the walls, breaking down equipment and packaging items, like magnifying glasses as well as poll pads in their designated hard-shell carriers.
Closing paperwork followed a similar procedure as what was done for advanced voting, though there wasn’t any sorting for ballot counting – all the ballots were for Precinct 2.
Out of more than 9,300 active registered voters for Precinct 2, the clerks expected 773 ballots to be in the ballot box. Voters who once cast their ballots at Birmingham Falls Elementary and…
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