Kris Broughton,
Atlanta, Georgia

Excerpted from Atlanta Journal & Constitution reports

The long lines for advance voting in Georgia last week generally gave way to an orderly procession through the polling stations Tuesday, with waits averaging less than one hour in most precincts most of the day.

However, some voters spent as much as three to four hours in line at some precincts, and voting rights groups received hundreds of calls reporting problems across the state.

In Clayton County, Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell took it upon himself to ensure as many votes as possible were counted. He sent a police helicopter into the air to look for long lines outside polling places, and dispatched four voting machines to alleviate crowding. Between 400 and 800 voters were at each of Clayton’s 58 precincts about 5:30.

At Morehouse College in Atlanta, students got in line to vote as early as 3:45 a.m. Wait times peaked at four hours around 9 a.m., with mostly students in line.

Voting went smoothly at Morehouse, but elsewhere, scattered problems.

In Clayton County, election officials were investigating reports that poll workers in three precincts refused to allow voters whose residencies were in question to cast provisional ballots. It is unclear how many voters may have been affected.

In a College Park precinct, poll workers were reported to be withholding provisional ballots from voters who did not have government-issued photo identification, said Clare Schexnyder of Georgia Election Protection, which is monitoring the area’s polling places.

State officials said government monitors found the report to be inaccurate.

Handel, the state’s chief elections officer, said at midday that “nearly all” polling places had opened “on time and without complication.”

Handel’s office is deploying about 150 investigators and technicians around the state to check on voting problems.

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