Polls open at 7 a.m. for Ga. Primary Elections

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Tuesday is Election Day for Georgia voters.

After record breaking early voting turnout, today we will see how many Georgians turn out for Election Day.

Normally turnout for a midterm primary is lower, but with record numbers for early voting, they are not really sure what to expect — but they do expect strong turnout.

Especially in the west Chatham area where there were not many early voting sites, they expect a higher number of voters at those sites.

Historically a primary race this election cycle would get around 20 percent turnout for Chatham County, but early voting numbers already have half of that – around 10 percent.

With a possible influx of voters, the board of elections says they are ready despite a large number of poll workers dropping out because of several Savannah-Chatham graduations happening today.

“And we have poll workers with kids and grandkids that are going to enjoy their graduation certainly and we have had some poll workers that have just said in the current atmosphere we have we just don’t feel like working at the polls,” said Elections Director Billy Wooten.

They had assigned around 820 poll worker spots but will start today with closer to 760 workers – of the site managers – the majority of them have done with before so it should not impact the timing of getting through the line today.

The only thing you need to bring with you to the polls is your ID.

Don’t forget this is a Primary Election, which means that you do need to choose a party to vote in and stick with that party for all of your choices.

There is a lot on the ballot no matter which party you chose today, so make sure to do some research and check out a sample ballot before you arrive or you can look at one while you wait in line.

The board says they do everything they can to try to prevent lines, but with record early early voting, they don’t know what to expect at the polls today.

“We want people to vote and we want voters to be educated when they arrive at the polls, that is the best of all worlds, for people to come to the polls prepared to vote, knowing who they are going to vote for and knowing which questions they have to answer,” Wooten said.

Again polls open at 7 a.m. – remember if you are still hanging onto of those absentee ballots, they do need to be returned by 7 p.m. today.

You can find election information on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.