Camden County Democrats’ calls for extended early voting hours fall on deaf ears

Jake Stofan
·2 min read
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Camden County Democrats’ request for extended early voting hours fell on deaf ears ahead of the runoff election slated for Tuesday.

At the early voting site in Kingsland, Georgia wait times hovered around half an hour through most of the day.

It’s one of only two early vote sites serving the county of 34,000 registered voters.

As a result of recent changes to Georgia voting law, the total time period for the runoff election between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker is just four weeks.

That’s compared to the nine weeks previously granted to runoff elections.

“I’ve gotten calls from many that say hey I passed by, the line was too long, couldn’t do it on my lunch. We’ve never had that. This is unprecedented,” said Kelvin Blue, Chair of the Camden County Democratic Party.

Blue said with high voter turnout this year and fewer days to vote, the county should have opened more polling places, brought in more staff and extended early voting hours to ensure every voter could cast a ballot.

He sent a letter asking the local supervisor of elections to make those accommodations earlier this week, but he said his request fell on deaf ears.

“The hours of 8 AM to 5 PM, the average person is on the clock,” said Blue.

We reached out to Election Supervisor Shannon Nettles, who ignored our request for an interview, but confirmed the Monday-Thursday 8 AM to 5 PM and Friday 8 AM to 6 PM early voting hours remained unchanged.

Voter Ricardo Green said the hours work for his schedule, but he could see how it would be an issue for others.

“I would say it would depend on what like you know who you are and I mean what’s your schedule and stuff like that,” said Green.

Voter Buck Davis told us this was one of his easiest voting experiences to date.

“They did a great job moving you along. Very efficient,” said Davis.

For those unable to vote during early voting, Georgia does offer no-excuse absentee voting.

Then of course there’s Election Day voting, which will run from 7 AM to 7 PM this coming Tuesday.

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