Polling location changes causes confusion for some Chatham Co. voters

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - Many voters got out in the rain Tuesday morning to cast their vote, but some said they had some difficulty finding their polling location.

This is relatively new location change, and some voters are still a little confused. One of the reasons for that is because as of Tuesday morning, Riverview Health Center was still listed as a polling station on the Chatham County website.

Oglethorpe Charter School became the polling location for District 3 Precinct 14 back in 2016 for the presidential election. WTOC spoke with Russell Bridges supervisor of the election board who said they are working to resolve the confusion and update the website immediately. He said he was honestly a little embarrassed about the mistake.

"The website tells you that our voting place is still on LaRoche -- very confusing. We've got a lot of people that use their privilege to go out and vote. The weather is bad. Some of these people are very up in age and it's very frustrating to have to leave your home in bad weather with a cane in your hand, only to discover your polling place no longer exists," said Sabrina Kent.

We sat down with the chairman of the Election Board, Tom Mahoney, who says low voter turnout does not hurt their process of running the polls, but regardless of how many people show up, they still have the same amount of work to do.

"We're working in the rain. There's a lot of work happening out there and equipment being moved all over the place and workers moving that equipment, and it's a hassle," Mahoney said. "The biggest reason is we know rain could keep voters away from the polls."

Mahoney says the turnout has been light so far. He said they are waiting it out for the after-work crowd. Historically, he says Georgia has low voter turnouts in primaries.

WTOC has also been checking on other voting issues that viewers have called in and told us about. The Downtown Precinct 1 polling center said they did experience a little bit of trouble loading up their machines first thing this morning, which caused some delays. The machines are now back up and running.

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