Larger Early Voting Venue in Hart County a Hit With Citizens

The larger venue in Hart County for early voters is working out far better than expected.

That’s according to Hart County Elections Supervisor Robin Webb.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Hart County Board of Elections had to find a new venue for early voting because their office on Cade St. was too small for them to be able to adhere to the social distancing guidelines.

The Hart County School Board offered the use of the Hart County Agriscience Center on the Bowman Highway.

Entering the second week of early voting, Webb said Tuesday, voters and poll workers have told her how much they like the new voting venue.

“I think it’s an excellent setup,” she said. “It has given everyone a chance to social distance. We weren’t sure how well it would work. We’ve adapted to it. Our voters like it. We’ve had a lot of compliments on it. Our workers like it. I think it’s a very wise decision. up.”

Webb noted the School Board is not charging the Elections office for the use of the AgriScience Center but said she’s not sure whether they will use it again for future elections.

As of last Friday, Hart County had just over 300 early in-person voters at the Agriscience Center, according to Webb.

Meantime, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Monday urged voters to return their absentee ballots in time for the June 9 primary.

Webb said of the more than 4,000 absentee ballots they sent out, they’ve gotten about half back.

And she reminded voters who decide to vote in person they must return the absentee ballot to her office.

Webb said there is still time to request an absentee ballot if you need one but she also said you must sign your absentee application, you cannot have someone sign it for you.

“It is important you sign your own application. A lot of people don’t understand that we check every signature on those applications. And then we check every signature on the envelopes of the ballots. So make sure you sign your own. I don’t think there’s a fraud, but we can’t accept those that are signed by someone else. We do check every single signature. Every time.

Now anyone with questions about their absentee ballots or early voting can contact Webb at the Elections office on Cade St in Hartwell at 706-376-8911.