Tift Co. seeing record voter turnout amid early voting

TIFTON, Ga. (WALB) - Less than two weeks from now, voters will line up to cast ballots on Election Day. But Southwest Georgia election offices are already seeing record early voting numbers.

In the first week of early voting, which started on Oct. 17, Tift County saw over 2,500 in-person voters.

Tift County Board of Elections Supervisor Leila Dollison said people seem to be happy to come vote.

On Monday, the easy vote machine jammed, so voters were required to use paper ballots until the issue was resolved.

Dollison said this didn’t stop voting, and no other issues have been reported.

“Early voting has been really great this election cycle. The people have come in excited about voting and this has been a large turnout. On Saturday, we had 206 voters and that’s the most we’ve seen on any Saturday (voting),” she said.

Colandria Copeland has been a resident of Tifton for several years now. Copeland said you never know what could happen on Election Day. So to avoid any discrepancies, she always votes early.

Other voters told WALB News 10 they just enjoy the convenience of early voting.

“People of color have not always had the right to vote nor have women. So people make sacrifices so that I would be able to vote, so I just make sure that I do my part,” Copeland said.

State officials say more than 1 million ballots have already been cast statewide since early voting started.

Advance voting continues at the Tift County Board of Elections office from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays. Polls will also be open Saturday, Oct. 29, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.