Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stopped by the Columbia County Board of Elections on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
During his visit, Raffensperger met with Nancy Gay, Columbia County Board of Elections executive director, to see how the staff was doing following Hurricane Helene. Gay told him they were in good standing and out of 46 precincts, only had one location was damaged during Hurricane Helene and will have to move. That is the precinct at Savannah Rapids Pavilion and the plan is to move those voters to Stevens Creek Church of Augusta. This would put two precincts at that location.
There might be an issue with the Eubank Blanchard Community Center voting precinct, but Gay is working on getting it resolved.
“The Eubank Blanchard, that’s one I’m working with Blake (Evans, elections director) on,” Gay said. “FEMA is apparently going to try and set up camp there, the county has told me that and Blake is trying to work with GEMA/FEMA to not get that to happen. But last I heard from the county is, it’s still happening. So I may still have to move that one, but I’m not sure yet…So out of 46, one that is due to the damage and that’s pretty good in my opinion.”
Gay said the county is having three employees go around to each precinct and check to make sure they’re accessible, there are no trees down, the parking lots are good and the building is OK.
Raffensperger asked about early voting sites, with Gay telling him three and there are no issues with them.
The early voting locations are:
- Board of Elections office (Building G3), 610 Ronald Reagan Drive, Evans
- Former Euchee Creek Library, 5907 Euchee Creek Drive, Grovetown
- Columbia County Board of Education Support Complex, 4395 River Watch Parkway, Evans
Early voting will take place from Oct. 15 – Nov. 1. From Oct. – 18 and Oct. 21-25, voting hours will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Saturday, Oct. 19, early voting will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday, Oct. 26, early voting will be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. From Oct. 28 – Nov. 1, early voting hours will be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“You’ve done an amazing job in a week and a half,” Raffensperger told Gay. To that she replied it wasn’t her, but the county staff who stepped up. When the Appling warehouse lost power, she asked for a generator and the county got one hooked up the next day.
“We were able to continue and finish L&A (logistics and accuracy) out there,” Gay said. “We got that part done. Poll worker training got pushed back a week and a few days, so we’re starting that. It’s a lot of catch up, but we’re getting it done.”
Gay told Raffensperger that the office received power Monday last week, so a lot of workers were happy to come in because there was AC, bathrooms and internet. The elections staff was able to get all of the absentee ballots out and have already received some of them back.
“The election has to go on, you know election workers that’s our motto anyways,” Gay said. “We’re going to get it done regardless of what it takes.”
