Sunday voting in Lowndes County: second county in Georgia to authorize

Despite some confusion in the WALB story, the Lowndes County Board of Elections really is the second in the state to authorize Sunday voting, after a request from the Lowndes County Democratic Committee.

Dave Miller wrote for WALB 10 September 2014, Sunday voting OK’ed for Lowndes,

The Lowndes County Board of Elections announced Wednesday that Lowndes County will be the second county in Georgia to implement Sunday Voting.

Lowndes County Commissioners approved the proposal Tuesday. DeKalb County is the only other county in the state that currently allows Sunday voting.

I was at the Lowndes County Commission meeting Tuesday, and I never heard them mention this. So I called Lowndes County Election Supervisor Deb Cox and she said “we’re state, not county” so no, the Lowndes County Commission does not have to approve it. She also said Lowndes really was second. Several other counties are considering it, but their boards of election have not yet approved it. She is in constant communication with the Georgia Secretary of State about that, and as of yesterday (after Lowndes approved it), no counties other than DeKalb had.

This happened because Gretchen Quarterman as Chair wrote a letter Monday on behalf of the Lowndes County Democratic Committee, which voted in support of that letter, asking the Board of Elections for Sunday voting. The Board of Elections had its regular meeting Tuesday and voted unanimously to do that; Gretchen was there and reported it at the time, and Deb Cox just confirmed on the telephone.

Speaking of the Lowndes County Commission, as of today they have still not updated their website to add this Sunday voting. But the Sunday schedule is in s the rest of the WALB story, based on a press release by the Board of Elections:

The Lowndes County Board of elections believes allowing voters to vote on Sunday will help increase voter turn out. “Our job here is to serve the citizens. So, we believe this extra day will help them more,” said Davontae Battle, administrative clerk with the Lowndes County Board of Elections. “We’re hopeful of a larger turnout because of this added day.”

Sunday voting will occur as part of the Early Voting Cycle and will be available on Sunday, October 26, 2014, from 12 noon to 5 p.m., in the Elections Office at 2808 N Oak St., in Valdosta.

The rest of the Early Voting Schedule is as follows:

Mon Oct 13th — Fri 17th, 8 a.m. — 5 p.m.

Mon Oct 20th—Fri 24th, 8 a.m. — 5 p.m.

Saturday, Oct 25th , 9 a.m. — 4 p.m.

Sunday, Oct 26th, 12 noon — 5 p.m.

Mon Oct 27th — Fri Oct 31st, 7a.m. — 7 p.m.

If you have any questions call the Elections Office at 229-671-2850.

WTXL also covered this yesterday in their evening news, although that doesn’t seem to be online.

-jsq