ATLANTA – Hurricane Helene isn’t going to get in the way of preparations for the Nov. 5 election, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday.
“We may have to move a few voting locations,” Raffensperger told reporters during a news conference at the state Capitol. “(But) we’re going to be ready.”
Helene was still packing 100-mile-per-hour winds when it moved out of Florida into South Georgia Sept. 27. After bringing heavy rainfall and flooding to the Valdosta area, the storm rampaged northeast through Dublin and the Augusta area before moving into the Carolinas.
Raffensperger said county election offices in the affected areas were forced to stop checking voting equipment and poll worker training temporarily but are starting to resume those activities. He thanked county election officials for the hard work they’re putting in to recover from the hurricane.
“They really put public service first because they know how important voting is,” he said.
Raffensperger said absentee ballots are going out this week as scheduled, with early voting due to begin Oct. 15.
Blake Evans, director of elections for the secretary of state’s office, said 8.2 million Georgians are registered to vote in the upcoming election, up from 7.6 million in 2020.
Gabriel Sterling, the agency’s chief operating officer, said the office has received nearly 220,000 requests for an absentee ballot. More than 1,400 from military and overseas voters already have been accepted, he said.
Although Monday is the deadline for registering to vote, Sterling said the numbers will increase as applications received before the end of the day are processed.
“Just because the voter list changes after today, that’s not fraud,” Sterling said. “That’s processing.”
Evans said county election offices in the areas hit by Helene for the most part sustained only minimal damage.
However, at least one polling location in Lowndes, Richmond, and Columbia counties will have to be moved, he said. The new locations will be posted on the secretary of state’s website, he said.
Raffensperger suggested Georgians start thinking now about how they’re going to vote.
“Make your plan to vote,” he said. “Are you going to vote early, absentee, or in person?”