As the doors of precincts across Athens-Clarke County opened at 7 a.m. on Nov. 3, there was a rush of voters that produced some wait times. After that, voters trickled in throughout the day at a much slower rate than poll workers were expecting as Election Day
Mary Songster, the poll manager of the Clarke Central High School precinct, has voted no more than around 1,200 people during her 10 years working the polls. She predicted that around 900 people would vote at her precinct on Tuesday. Instead, she voted 317 people and was left asking some questions.
“Where were my voters?” Songster said.
Though Songster is left still processing her experiences at the polls on Tuesday, the numbers speak for themselves. According to ACC Board of Elections Assistant Lisa McGlaun, there were 9,111 in-person voters on Tuesday which is over 10,000 less than in the 2016 election. The low turnout was made up through early voting and mail-in absentee ballots. There were 23,811 early voters and 18,614 absentee voters compared to the 23,423 early votes and 2,744 absentee votes in 2016.
Even though there were fewer in-person voters due to concerns around COVID-19, Athens reported nearly 6,000 more votes than it did in 2016. Plus, it made the Athens poll workers’ Election Day a little bit easier.
“Tuesday went a lot smoother than any of us could have ever anticipated,” said first-time poll worker Malikah Thompson. “[Voter’s] faces would be in shock when they would come in and see like, ‘Oh, it’s completely empty. I don’t have to wait. There isn’t a line.’”
Thompson, who worked at the Thomas N. Lay Park precinct, said only about 400 people came in to vote in person. In 2016, 1,117 people voted there in person. With so few people dropping by to cast their ballots, poll workers were left with a good bit of free time on their hands. Some read, some snacked and others chatted with incoming voters and fellow workers.
Whit Davis Elementary School precinct poll manager Alice Eaves said she and other poll workers took the downtime to get some sunshine away from the chilly rooms of the school and also to get to know the four new crew members. Eaves, who has worked in three other presidential elections, is used to busy lines and people stepping into line right before the 7 p.m. deadline. The 347th and final voter finished at 6:39 p.m. this year. Eaves and her fellow workers waited 21 minutes for another person to arrive, but no one came.
The day ended without any major hiccups with machines and a lower turnout than expected. Like the other poll managers, Songster printed the tapes from the ballot box and posted them on the window of the precinct for people to see the results.
They shut down, packed up the equipment and Songster took the memory card, ballots, poll pads, anything that had information on it with her downtown to the Board of Elections Office. She dropped the stuff off, filled out some paperwork and checklists, then left it in the hands of the people downtown — she’s just logistics after all. She was home by 9 p.m., the earliest she’s ever gotten back in a presidential election.
“It’s still a long day, it’s still a 15, 16 hour day no matter what,” Songster said. “[Election Day is] like a marathon and a wedding, no matter what.”
Andrew Walsh 