Early voting begins July 9th for the primary election.

Gail Schrader , supervisor of the Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections, says they aren’t expecting a big turnout for the primary because there aren’t a lot of hot local races. However, she says the Northeast Georgia TSPOLST may bring people out.

Schrader says they also don’t expect as many people to take advantage of early voting for the primary.

“The trend we seem to see is for smaller turnout elections is that voters tend to go to their polling place. They’re thinking there may not be as long of a line. In the November general elections that’s when we really see a big early voting turnout.”

Lynn Bailey, Executive Director of the Richmond County Board of Elections, says they do have some hot local races, so she expects turn out will be higher than normal for the primary in the Augusta area.

This year voters can go to the polls on Saturday, July 21st as part of early voting. This is the first year a Saturday has been added to early voting.

Schrader says be sure to bring a photo I.D. if you plan to vote early.

Early voting lasts through July 29th. The primary election will be held July 31st.

Tags: early voting, primary election, Gail Schrader, Lynn Bailey