Registrar: Voters not required to vote by mail

Apr. 10--If you've already sent in an application for an absentee ballot for the May 19 general primaries and presidential preference primaries, you won't need to send in another application now that the ballot has been moved to June 9, said Whitfield County Chief Registrar Mary Hammontree.

Hammontree spoke Thursday night with county Board of Commissioners Chairman Lynn Laughter in a discussion that was live-streamed.

"I'm hoping to clear up a few questions for voters because we've been bombarded in our office today with questions," Hammontree said.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced he was postponing the statewide general primaries and presidential preference primaries election scheduled for May 19 until June 9.

On Wednesday, Gov. Brian Kemp extended a shelter-in-place order that was due to expire on Monday to April 30, and extended a state of emergency until May 13, to try to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

Raffensperger noted that the state of emergency would cover almost every day of in-person advance voting for a May 19 election.

The secretary of state's office sent out forms to request an absentee ballot to all active, registered voters in the state. There are about 52,000 active registered voters in Whitfield County. Some 2,500 have already sent in an application.

Hammontree said those who receive an absentee ballot who change their minds and want to vote in person on Election Day can do so. But they will have to bring that absentee ballot with them and turn it in to poll workers and sign a document so the absentee ballot can be canceled in the system

Georgians were supposed to vote in the Democratic and Republican presidential preference primaries on March 24. But Raffensperger postponed that election and combined it with the general primaries, citing the danger to both voters and poll workers from the coronavirus.

Hammontree said those who voted in early voting in the presidential primaries will receive a ballot that does not contain the presidential primaries, whether they vote in person or absentee.

Voters will be able to choose a Democratic ballot, a Republican ballot or a nonpartisan ballot. Those who choose Democratic and did not vote in early voting will be able to vote in the Democratic presidential primary and the Democratic general primary. Those who choose Republican and did not vote early in the presidential primary can vote in both GOP primaries, and those who choose nonpartisan will be able to vote only in nonpartisan races on the ballot, primarily the Magistrate Court judge elections as well as a proposed four-year, $66 million Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) referendum.

Laughter pointed out that those who choose a Democratic ballot will not be able to vote in local GOP races.

Hammontree said those who voted early in the Democratic presidential primary can request a GOP ballot for June.

President Donald Trump is the only candidate in the Republican presidential primary. Although all of the Democratic candidates except former vice president Joe Biden have dropped out of that race, many of their names remain on the ballot.

Hammontree said those who check a box for the elderly or disabled will also receive an absentee ballot for the November general election.

Hammontree said she's received many calls from people who think they are required to vote by mail this time.

"You do not have to vote by mail," Hammontree said. "This is just an option given to protect voters, poll workers and all of us during this outbreak of COVID-19."

Hammontree said when the election is held, there will be measures in place to enforce social distancing, including limits on the number of people admitted into the polling places.

"It'll be a slow go, so please be patient with my poll workers," she said. "We're trying to keep us all safe in the midst of all this."

Laughter reminded viewers that the Georgia Army National Guard is working to help stop the spread of coronavirus across the state, including in Whitfield County. As part of that effort, the Guard is sending more than 30 infection control teams to long-term care facilities throughout the state.

"Right now, our long-term care facilities and nursing homes do not have a single case," Laughter said. "So in that regard, the Guard is just here to assess what we might need should we start having a problem here. Our hospital closed assisted living and nursing home facilities very early to people coming in, so I'm very thankful we right now don't have a single case in these facilities."

The Guard also sent 17 medical supply teams to hospitals across the state.

"Again, our hospital is in pretty good shape," Laughter said. "We've got plenty of capacity so they'll just be assessing that. They're also helping with testing kits. We're very thankful that they are here in our community to help us and they will continue to do that. I wanted our citizens to know they're here and why they're here so there wouldn't be undue concern about that."

Whitfield County Emergency Management Agency Director Claude Craig said the county has had low hospitalization numbers for the coronavirus.

"That's a good sign that that is not going up in numbers," he said. "That's going to help us as we talked about the other day to flatten the apex of the curve (in the number of cases). We want to get that curve out and make it a flat line. Our efforts seem to be working, and I just want to ask everybody to continue doing the job that you're doing on your social distancing and most of all stay home if you don't have to go anywhere. Doesn't take all seven of y'all to go get a jar of peanut butter at the Kroger. Use your head and we'll do the best we can and we're going to get through this."

Craig said he can see the light at the other end of the tunnel.

"We've just got to remember we can't get complacent once we have flattened the curve and say 'OK, that's over with, let's get back to doing what we were doing,' he said. 'You're not going to be able to get back to what you were doing anytime soon because we've got to watch this thing or we'll end up as a couple of places in China did. When they thought it was all over with, they said everybody go back to what you want to do, and then boom, it spiked in a couple of days and they were right back in the same situation. We want this thing to be gone. We don't want to have to deal with it."

There will be another live-streamed discussion of the latest on the coronavirus on Tuesday at 5 p.m. It can be seen at https://tinyurl.com/vy44x9d.

Editor's note: In an effort to keep the community updated on news about the new coronavirus (COVID-19), articles posted to our website under "Breaking News" are available to everyone for free, whether or not you're a subscriber. We encourage you to support us by subscribing to the Daily Citizen-News or by buying a copy of the newspaper at a local store or newspaper box.

Drive-thru testing

The Whitfield County Health Department is holding drive-thru testing for the new coronavirus (COVID-19). Call (888) 881-1474 to schedule an appointment if you're 18 or older and experiencing symptoms like fever, dry cough and fatigue.

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