Early voting under way

By Shane Scoggins

Publisher

CARNESVILLE – Franklin County voters may begin choosing their favored candidates for a variety of local offices  Monday with the beginning of the early voting period.

Early voting will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Two Saturdays of early voting will be held May 4 and May 11, also from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day.

All early voting will be held at the Franklin County Elections and Registration Office at 7850 Royston Road in Carnesville.

Local races on the May 21 ballot are those for sheriff, county commission chairman, District 1 and 2 seats on the county commission, the Post 1 seat on the school board, magistrate judge and district attorney.

Voters will have to choose either a Republican, Democratic or non-partisan ballot.

In the May 21 primary, most local races – including for sheriff – will be on the Republican ballot.

Non-partisan races for judgeships will be on both party ballots. Judgeships will be the only races on the non-partisan ballot. The race for Franklin County Magistrate Judge is on the non-partisan ballot.

The party ballots will also include questions posed by the Republican or Democratic parties.

Franklin County election officials are encouraging voters to be familiar with the ballot before coming to vote due to the length of the ballot.

Voters are encouraged to call to request mail-in ballots in cases where they cannot vote early or on Election Day in person.

The phone number to the elections office is 706-384-4390.

Due to delays in the mail, elections officials said to allow plenty of time to return mail-in ballots.

Elections staff also encourage voters to request a sample ballot that may be brought to the polls to expedite the election process.

For information on whether a voter is registered to vote, his or her voting precinct and other information, visit https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/.