Just as in the Presidential Election year of 2020, Ware County voters will be able to cast early ballots for the November 5 General Election on a Sunday.
The Ware County Board of Elections and Registration decided at its meeting earlier this month to include Sunday, October 27 among the weekend opportunities during early voting. The early period will be Tuesday October 15 through Friday, November 1.
“We had a little more than 200 vote on that Sunday (in 2020),” said Carlos Nelson, Ware County Supervisor of Elections. “I asked the staff first and everybody was in agreement. Anytime you can get a couple hundred votes in advance, that’s going to save us some on election day. The board agreed.”
Weekday voting hours will be 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Board of Elections office, 408 Tebeau Street, and the Ware County Administration Building, 305 Oak Street.
Saturday and Sunday voting will only be at the Board of Elections office. The Saturday hours will be 9 a.m.-5 p.m., October 19 and 26, and 11 a.m.-5 p.m., October 27.
The deadline to register to vote and be eligible for the General Election is Monday, October 7. There were 22,350 eligible voters for May’s General Primary.
Absentee ballots are available now, and may be requested until Friday, October 25. All absentee ballots must be delivered by mail or in the hands of election officials by the close of the polls at 7 p.m. November 5.
In addition to Presidential and the First District House of Representative races, two seats on the City of Waycross Commission also are on the ballot.
Those seats are for District 1 where Willie Oliver, Shawn Roberts and Jené Walker have qualified, and District 5, where Alvin Nelson and Henry Strickland have filed.
The District 1 seat has been vacant since the death of longtime Commissioner Norman Davis in March. The other seat, which Nelson occupied, was vacated in May on the order of Senior Judge Gary McCorvey as a result of Strickland’s suit contesting the outcome of the 2023 election that Nelson won by 18 votes.
Strickland cited the use of incorrect maps to determine District 5 voters. McCorvey’s ruling also called for a new election for the seat at the earliest opportunity, which is November.
