The Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registrations is probing the curious case of a voter who says someone else must have voted in his place at the Columbus Baptist Association on Oct. 19.
Elections director Nancy Boren said Willie J. Tate came to the Columbus Public Library to vote early this past Tuesday and was told records showed he already had voted. Tate said he had not.
Tate's family said he could not have voted the previous Friday because he was in the hospital, Boren said.
A curious aspect of Tate's complaint is that whoever voted under his name at the Baptist Association showed a driver's license matching his voter registration, Boren said. The person voting Oct. 19 was assisted by someone signing her name as Pamela May, though Tate said he did not recognize that name, Boren said.
Tate came to the Columbus Government Center on Thursday and voted a provisional ballot, which the elections board can accept should it determine someone else voted under his name on Oct. 19, Boren said.
The last Saturday
Today is the last Saturday for early voting in Georgia, which resumes Monday and continues through Friday at four Columbus sites.
The 3000 Macon Road library is the only Saturday early voting poll in Columbus. It's open for voting today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Harris County residents can vote 9 a.m.-4 p.m. today in the county elections office at 104 N. College St., Hamilton.
Here's the early voting schedule for next week:
• The Muscogee Office of Elections and Registrations, ground floor, west wing, Columbus Government Center, 100 10th St., 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
• The Columbus Baptist Association, 3679 Steam Mill Road, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday.
• The North Highland Assembly of God, 7300 Livingston Drive, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday. This poll will be closed Wednesday.
• The Columbus Public Library, 3000 Macon Road, 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday.
Harris County residents can vote 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at the county elections office, 104 N. College St., Hamilton.
Boren said Friday that about 17,000 people had voted early in Columbus.
