Make your vote count! First and foremost you need to be registered to vote. The Georgia Secretary of State website will confirm the registration guidelines and you can download a registration form at http://sos.georgia.gov/cgi-bin/locator.asp Call your county board of registrars’ office to confirm the registration deadline. If you missed the registration deadline for Super Tuesday, register now anyway to ensure that your vote counts for the next election. Remember don’t go to the polls without being registered, you will waste your time. Options to cast an absentee vote or early vote and avoid lines if you are prepared and registered for the next election.
When you are registered, you receive in the mail your precinct card, also known as a voter registration card, gives the polling place for your home address. If you can’t fine your registration card with your polling place information on it, Georgia voters can find where to vote at the Georgia Secretary of State website as well. Or click on the link http://sos.georgia.gov/cgi-bin/locator.asp Toll free help is also available by calling (888) 265-1115. There is an online form to complete with your name and birthdate information and it will pull up your registration information and list where you can vote. There is also a link for directions. If you have registered in the past and haven’t moved and were “inactive” you could probably activate on the day you vote but call your county voting office.
If you don’t know which county in Georgia you live in go to http://www.georgia.gov/00/topic_index_channel/0,2092,4802_5081,00.html click on the city you live in and at the very top of the page, next to your city’s name is your county. Whether your are Democratic or Republican, everyone goes to the same place to vote. There might be lines by party at the voting location but it’s still the same location.
Now that you have found your voting location you can cast your vote anytime from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m on Tuesday, Feb. 5. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “state law says that no one in line to vote at 7 p.m. will be kicked out. You’ll get your turn. Historically, busiest times are from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., plus lunch.”
Another very important requirement necessary to make your vote count is having with you when you vote your Photo Identification. This was voted on and passed during the Georgia General Assembly. According to Secretary of State, Handel,
Voters will be required to show one of the following six forms of photo ID when voting in-person on Election Day:
A Georgia driver’s license, even if expired; Any valid state or federal government issued photo ID, including a free Voter ID Card issued by your county registrar or Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS); Valid U.S. passport; Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority, or other entity of this state; Valid U.S. military photo ID; or Valid tribal photo ID. This law was passed to reduce voter fraud. If you don’t have one of the above, you can vote but it’s a “provisional”, providing you go back to your county registrar’s office within two days and present one of the acceptable photo IDs for your vote to actually count. However, you can be prepared next time around. For more information on Georgia’s photo ID requirements you can visit www.GAPhotoID.com or call toll free (877) 725-9797.
So great you are prepared and you get there, you will be asked to vote either in the Democratic primary OR the Republican primary you can’t vote in both. You will cast your vote for the presidential nominee. There are some local issues on ballots based on the county where you vote.
The presidential ballot will have the following names on it even though some have dropped out:
Democratic choices are: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis J. Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson.
Republican choices are: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Fred Thompson. There will be signs at the polling places to identify those candidates who have dropped out but there name will still be on the ballot.
You can take sample ballots into the booth with you but you can’t share information with other voters and you can’t take campaign material into the voting poll. There are approximately 8,000 ballot styles in the state of Georgia, so you can get a sample ballot at your polling place on Super Tuesday to review your particular ballot.
So if this seems like a hassle remember it’s your vote that counts and as they state on the Georgia Secretary of State website “Your vote is your voice in the governance of your city, county, state and country. As a citizen, you declare your rights and privileges with your vote. Contrary to popular belief, one vote – your vote – does make a difference.” So, get out there and be prepared to make your vote count.
