The
long lines of Georgians going to the polls early — many in metro
Atlanta are waiting three or more hours in line — suggest a huge
turnout that ought to be cause for celebration. And state and local
election officials should be making every effort to accommodate
citizens who obviously want to exercise their country’s most sacred
right.
That’s why Gov. Sonny Perdue and Secretary of State Karen
Handel should authorize early-voting precincts to stay open extended
hours and over the weekend in places where the lines and waits may have
already discouraged Georgians from casting their ballots. They should
follow the lead of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who signed an executive
order Tuesday that will keep the Sunshine State’s early-voting polls
open for 12 hours a day through Saturday and for four hours on Sunday.
Crist, a Republican, bucked his party’s legislative leadership, which
in 2005 pushed through a law restricting early-voting hours. The
Florida governor deemed the heavy turnout thus far an “emergency” and
ordered the extended hours because he feared traditional voting
precincts may be overwhelmed Tuesday.
While Crist’s order
initially caused consternation among local election officials — who
worried they could not get enough workers — almost all of them agreed
to comply. Already 1.2 million Florida voters have cast ballots over
the last two weeks. About 1.3 million Georgians have voted since early
voting commenced in early October.
That unexpected early turnout
has apparently left Handel and other elections officials thinking that
Tuesday will not be problematic for the millions of Georgians who have
yet to vote. But that’s wishful thinking.
Earlier this week, the
state’s computer system for checking voter identification sputtered
several times, slowing down the process and backing up lines of
would-be voters. Election officials said those initial problems appear
to have been fixed, and by midweek most of the long lines were caused
by the volume of voters and a limited number of voting machines in the
early-voting precincts. Tuesday night in Clayton County, for instance,
the last voters, in line at 7 p.m., didn’t cast their ballots until
nearly 10 p.m.
Despite the anticipated turnout and potential for
severe backups on Election Day, neither Handel nor Perdue seem
interested in making it easier for Georgians to get to the polls early.
Handel claims there is no mechanism in Georgia law that would allow the
secretary of state or the governor to order extended hours.
Interestingly,
Crist said essentially the same thing a few weeks ago when asked by
Democrats in Florida to do so. Florida’s law seems to be much more
specific than Georgia’s regarding when polls can be open. Yet, based on
the first seven days of early voting, Crist changed his mind.
“It’s
not a political decision. It’s a people decision,” Crist said. “I have
a responsibility to the voters of our state to ensure that the maximum
number of citizens can participate in the electoral process and that
every person can exercise the right to vote.”
Unfortunately,
Georgia’s GOP leadership doesn’t share Crist’s broad view of
encouraging voter participation. In recent years, the Georgia GOP has
conducted a unholy campaign to make voting as difficult as possible by
enacting a rigid voter ID law — despite virtually no evidence of voter
fraud at the polls. Already in this campaign season, Senate President
Pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) has opined that early voting was a
“mistake” and suggested the Legislature should enact tighter
restrictions on it.
For her part, Handel is convinced extending
early-voting hours isn’t necessary. She also thinks it would be a
logistical nightmare for local election officials to find poll workers
over the weekend and then move around thousands of polling booths and
computers from where they are now to the regular precincts that will be
open Tuesday.
From a practical standpoint she may be right. But
state and local election officials should take a lesson from the
election of 2008.
Georgians, when given the opportunity, want to
participate in deciding their own future. We should make that process
as simple and as easy as possible. In statewide elections where the
turnout even weeks in advance is obviously heavy, there’s no reason why
early-voting hours — including weekend voting — should not be extended.
— Mike King, for the editorial board (mking@ajc.com).