No action was taken by the Fayette County Board of Elections on a request by Rep. Virgil Fludd (D-Tyrone) to have polls open on Sunday, Oct. 26, for early voting.
Board members Addison Lester, Darryl Hicks and Chairman Marilyn Watts discussed the request at the Sept. 23 meeting, heard from a number of citizens who attended the meeting and reached a consensus that they did not have enough information to reach a decision on Fludd’s request.
Contacted Sept. 24, Fludd said he made the request for Sunday voting since several other Georgia counties have moved to a Sunday vote prior to the November election, adding, “I believe we ought to do everything we can to get voters to the polls. Increasing voter participation (leads to) an increase in better democracy.”
The board consists of one appointee from each political party and one named by the Fayette County Commission. Hicks is the Democrat member. The other two are Republicans.
The board prior to the decision took the comments from nearly a dozen of those in attendance. Nearly all spoke in opposition to having an early voting day on a Sunday. A sampling of the reasons for the opposition included the expense, Sunday being the Lord’s day, the volume of days currently available to vote and ongoing accommodations by many businesses for voters to leave work to go the polls. The board was also asked the cost of having one or more polling places open on Sunday. That information was not immediately presented, though each polling place would require at least five staff for a minimum of five hours.
Watts said the request came in only a few days prior to the meeting. The request did not specify the number of polling locations desired, she said, adding that the voting schedule for the upcoming election had already been put in place.
Lester said he believed ample opportunity currently exists for people to vote. It was noted that three weeks of early voting is already in place, as is the ability to cast an absentee ballot for any reason.
Hicks in his comments said he was more interested in meeting the needs of voters.
“There may be a way (to have Sunday voting) if the need outweighs the cost. So I want to know all the facts and I don’t have that information,” Hicks said, adding that all the facts should be known prior to a decision being made. The decision should be politics-neutral, he said.
Both board members and some in the audience suggested that the General Assembly should conduct a needs assessment to determine if Sunday voting would be a viable move during elections.
Commenting on that suggestion, Fludd said the issue of Sunday voting is a local decision.
That said, he also noted that there is some expectation that the General Assembly will take up the issue in January and, if so, the resulting action might be to curtail Sunday voting.
“We can buy alcohol and lottery tickets on Sunday. We ought to be able to vote on Sunday,” Fludd said.
Advanced voting for the Nov. 4 election runs from Oct. 13-31 at the elections office at the government complex in Fayetteville and from Oct. 20-30 at the Peachtree City Library and Tyrone Town Hall.
