Henry Daily Herald

By Jason A. Smith

jsmith@henryherald.com

McDONOUGH — Today will be the first chance for Henry voters to cast Saturday ballots for the Nov. 6 election.

Officials said county residents are getting a jump on the competition and going to the polls early.

Henry has the fifth-highest totals in Georgia since early voting began Oct. 15, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. The agency reported Thursday that the top five counties with the highest voter turnout were Fulton with 62,444, DeKalb with 60,859, Gwinnett with 26,871, Cobb with 23,622 and Henry with 22,658.

Henry County Elections and Registration Director Janet Shellnutt said more than 26,000 county voters had cast ballots early through Thursday, compared with about 14,000 voters in Clayton County.

“We’re getting them in and out very quickly,” said Shellnutt.

Early voting will be open Saturday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Elections and Registration Department, 345 Phillips Drive in McDonough; the Fairview Library, 28 Austin Road and the Ted Strickland Community Center, 130 Berry St., both in Stockbridge. Shellnutt said voting will be available next week from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at all three locations plus the Hampton Train Depot at 17 East Main St. and the Locust Grove Recreation Center, 10 Cleveland St. in Locust Grove.

“I’m hoping to cross at least 50,000,” said Shellnutt. “That will make election day a lot easier.”

Secretary of State Brian Kemp encouraged Georgians to take advantage of Saturday voting.

“If you’ve been unable to vote early during the week due to work or personal reasons, please take advantage of this additional resource,” said Kemp.

Kemp’s office reported that as of Thursday, 688,388 early ballots had been cast statewide. That total includes 568,057 people voting in person and 120,331 mail-in ballots returned. Nearly 100,000 mail-in ballots were still outstanding in Georgia Thursday.