Early one-stop voting opens Thursday, Oct. 15 at the Clay County Board of Elections office on the square in Hayesville. It continues through Saturday, Oct. 31. Voting hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Saturday hours will are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. except for Oct. 31 when the hours will be 8 a.m. to 3 p.m In the 2016 general election, 3,597 people voted using the one-stop method.
Early in-person voting continues to grow in popularity and is expected to be even more so because of this year’s heated races and the pandemic. Voters most likely will see some differences when they head to the county Elections Board to vote including the possibility of longer lines. “There will be lines at times and we will have a line control worker making sure that people are following guidelines of staying 6 feet apart unless they are from the same household,” said Elections Board Director Rebecca Hall.
The 6 foot lines are marked on the office floor and on the sidewalk leading to the office. Hall asked that everyone observe social distancing by adhering to those lines. “We only have six voting booths open to comply with social distancing guidelines and each booth will be wiped down after each voter so this will slow the process some,” Hall said. “Please be patient with us as we learn to deal with this new way of voting.” In previous elections, Hall said the best times to vote were 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and early in the morning, but like everything else this year that could be different. “This time with an expected higher turnout, it could be anytime,” she said.
The deadline has passed to register to vote at precincts on Election Day, but residents can register and vote the same day during the one-stop period. They will need to bring an ID and proof of residency to register. Those already registered need no proof of identity to vote. Regarding our other form of early voting, the mail-in ballot requests continue to climb. The board has mailed out 943 ballots and of those, 425 completed ballots have been returned to their office.