Election Day live updates: About 80 people in line at south Columbus precinct as polls close

It’s Election Day in Columbus.

Ledger-Enquirer reporters will travel to voting precincts throughout the city today to hear from voters and election workers. Voters will cast ballots for a presidential primary, the Muscogee County Sheriff race, a city council race, a question on renewing the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and more.

Need a refresher before heading to the polls? Check out these stories:

• Voting times, coronavirus precautions, poll location changes and more to know for Tuesday
• How do I check my polling place, and more questions Georgia voters may have
• What’s on the ballot in Muscogee County?
• What’s an ESPLOST?

Have trouble voting? Email newsroom@ledger-enquirer.com to let us know.

VOTING EXTENDED

Due to technical issues at multiple polling sites, all precincts in Muscogee County will remain open until 9 p.m., according to a Facebook post from Mayor Skip Henderson.

Any voter in line when the poll closes may still vote.

The extension was announced around 4:15 p.m. in an order from the Superior Court of Muscogee County.

LIVE UPDATES

7:00 a.m.: Only three of the 16 voting machines at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church were working when the polls for the Georgia primary election opened Tuesday.

That caused a longer wait than normal for voters, acting poll manager Darketa Burks told the Ledger-Enquirer, although she didn’t have a time estimate.

“One or two people complained,” she said. “But as a whole, it’s been great. … We have a good working team. We don’t give up.”

By around 11 a.m., 15 of the 16 machines were running, Burks said. One still wasn’t working because of a problem with the electrical outlet, she said.

The trouble in the morning was mostly with the printers, Burks said, “but it had nothing to do with the machines. It had to do with us not remembering everything.”

This is the first election in Columbus with Georgia’s new voting machines.

“We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for this election because of the coronavirus,” Burks said. “We were able to get together only once for training. So that made it a little bit harder for us.”

Compounding the problem, their crew was three workers short, including the poll manager, Burks said.

After voting at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Sherri Allen said that she favors the new voting machines over the previous system because of the paper copy that verifies the choices made on the electronic ballot.

“I like the scanning to make sure your vote is counted,” she said. “It gives you a number to let you know that it was accepted.”

10:30 a.m.: Lines formed early Tuesday at St. Mark, where voters donned masks as they cast their ballots.

COVID-19 concerns weren’t noticeable, according to poll manager David Aguirre, though things were “slow” early in the day. Booths were spread apart to promote social distancing.

“Last count we had was 93 (voters),” Aguirre said. “Most people wear masks, some don’t … but nobody’s really been concerned about it.”

Taped X’s marked spots in line on which voters stood before moving to one of six voting stations.

The new voting machines took some “getting used to,” Aguirre said, but once everything was set up, things went smoothly.

“Once we got started, we’ve been OK.”

11:00 a.m.: At the St. Andrew’s polling location for precinct 120, just 242 voters were recorded as of 11 a.m. Usually by this time of day, assistant polling manager Debra East said the number of voters is closer to 1,000.

Lines formed when polls opened at 7 a.m. but tapered out by mid-morning. Both voters and polling staff at St. Andrews reported very few issues with the process.

“I went straight through all the way, piece of cake,” said Ronald Foxforth, who cast his vote at St. Andrew’s around 10:30 a.m.

About 80% of voters were wearing masks, East estimates. East said that staff didn’t originally have masks on when the polls were open up early this morning, but the majority put one on after a voter asked them to “get their masks on.”

Polling clerk Patrick Mummert decided not to wear a mask. As the sole clerk at St. Andrews, Mummert scans the ID of every voter that enters the building and issues their voter activation card. Mummert works at a restaurant, where he is required to wear a mask, and he trusts in the other precautions he takes, such as regularly taking his temperature and sanitizing his hands.

“With everything that’s going on, everyone else is probably also taking precautions and using common sense,” Mummert said.

Lines of tape spaced 6 feet apart wind from the ballot machines out to the sidewalk to space out the queue of voters. Staff say that they regularly disinfect the voting machines, though not after each use.

Kayla Ford, 19, voted for the first time today at the precinct under relatively unusual circumstances.

“There were so many boxes to fill out,” she said. Today’s election combines the March 24 presidential preference primary and the May 19 state party primary and local elections.

11:15 a.m.: Voter turnout has been steady at Britt David Baptist Church, 2801 West Britt David Road, in Columbus, according to poll manager Leah Williams.

When doors opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday, Williams said there were only three people in line.

“This precinct is usually steady all day,” Williams said. “There’s no long breaks between people.”

11:30 a.m.: About 100 residents have cast their vote so far today at the Gallops Senior Center, poll manager Theresa Baker said. About six or seven people were in line to vote when the precinct opened at 7 a.m.

Voters have understood the new voting machine process “for the most part,” she said. “So far so good.”

At this location, voters fill out the initial voting form outside the building and then are brought inside to vote. Around 11:30 a.m., lines were short with an average of three people at one time waiting to cast a ballot.

11:50 p.m.: The 121st precinct polling location at Alethia Church on Blackmon Road has seen a smooth voting process and careful safety measures. About 161 people had voted at Alethia as of 11:50 a.m. Polling manager Gwendolyn Davis estimates that the location usually has about double that many people by that time.

“It was really nice and easy, there wasn’t much of a line, everyone was really pleasant,” said voter Sara Lynn Holbrook.

There was some confusion about the ballot processes this morning at Alethia, particularly concerning the party primaries. Davis said she had to cancel then reissue the ballots of some voters who were confused about the party ballots.

Voters must select either a Republican, Democratic, or nonpartisan ballot to vote in the presidential and state primaries. Voters must choose one party ballot for both elections, meaning they can’t vote in one party’s presidential primary and the other party’s state primary. As of noon, the Alethia polling location had issued 98 Democrat, 46 Republican, and five nonpartisan ballots.

Some voters brought with them absentee ballots to cancel before receiving an in-person ballot, Davis said. Holbrook was among those who voted in person after originally opting for an absentee ballot. Holbrook filled out and mailed her absentee ballot, but its online status was still marked as “not received” as of this morning. Holbrook decided to cancel it and vote in person at Alethia Church, which was “super easy,” she said.

Holbrook said she had a few concerns about voting in person because she lives with someone who has asthma. “But everyone was wearing face shields, they were disinfecting everything between every use,” Holbrook said. “They have everything taped out on the floor and again, there wasn’t a long line.”

Bill Cogdale, who hands out stickers to exiting voters, said he struggled to decide whether to work the polls this year. After talking it over with his wife, he decided to still go, but made sure to wear two masks, glasses, a hat, and long sleeves and pants.

Voter Kristine Johnson said she was impressed with the safety measures taken by the staff at the Alethia polling location.

“They sanitize the ink pens that you use. Once you use them they put them in a separate cup and then they sanitize those pens and then put them back out after they sanitize them.” Johnson said

Lines of pink duct tape marked out six feet increments throughout the various stations and lines at the polling location. Davis said voters have largely followed the social distancing guidelines. About 80% have worn masks, she estimates.

Assistant polling manager Abbey Davis created custom “face shield” style masks for polling staff. Davis decorated the masks with crafting supplies, with the result that the majority of the polling staff at Alethia were sporting some kind of rhinestones or glitter.

12:00 p.m.: Despite an almost hour-long delay at 7 a.m. at the Edgewood Baptist Church polling location, voter Lashondra Upshaw said she waited only five minutes to cast her vote.

“We were not able to open on time,” said polling manager Emily Hutchens. “I have never been delayed, and I’ve been doing (elections) since the 90s.”

The 9-person polling staff did receive support from Director of Elections Nancy Boren and a technician. They troubleshooted issues around 7:40 a.m.

COVID-19 precautions at the precinct included two staff members dedicated to cleaning touch screens. One of them, Maxwell Holloway, 16, is an incoming senior at Carver High School. When a teacher asked for Election Day volunteers, he said OK.

“I don’t really have nothing to do at home, except play games. Here I get to meet people,” he said.

Holloway said he faced a backlash at 7 a.m. when he told a line of voters there was a delay in opening.

“One lady said ‘I’m going to call the police,’” he said.

However, voter Amanda Songer, of Columbus, recognized Holloway’s efforts. “They were sanitizing everything in between people,” she said, satisfied that most of the voters wore masks to help control any possible spread of coronavirus.

Songer, who works for the Muscogee County Sheriff’s department, said she was looking forward to voting for her new boss today.

Jimmy Harrelson voted during his lunch break. He said Liberty Utilities, his employer, was encouraging all of their employees to get out and vote.

12:30 p.m.: Voting equipment at the Our Lady of the Lourdes polling location malfunctioned following what polling location staff believe to be a power outage.

Tamika Geist, assistant director of the Columbus elections office, said that the polling location was back up and running following the power outage. It is unknown how many machines are currently working.

In a Facebook post, resident Terrence Flowers said that lines at Canaan Church are as long as three hours.

Voters waiting longer than 30 minutes can request an emergency paper ballot from poll workers or call the Georgia Voter Protection Hotline at 888-730-5816.

Voter turnout has been somewhat slow at Columbus Tech, according to manager Tureka Watson, as many Columbus residents opt to vote via absentee ballot amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The total in-person count as of 12:30 p.m. was 118 people.

Six voting booths are open at the college, with social distancing measures in place. Voting booths and cards are sprayed down and cleaned after each use, and many voters wore masks into the building.

“It’s been slow,” Watson said. “… A lot of people requested the absentee ballots because of COVID. I’ve never had this many absentee ballots coming in.”

12:45 p.m.: At precinct 101, Wynnton Methodist Church on Wynnton Road, around 140 people had cast their votes by around 12:45 p.m.

Poll Manager Edith Spencer said the biggest lines were seen that morning, with around 50 people in line at most. Around lunchtime, voters walked in and out without any holdups. Most voters wore masks, and workers asked them to stand six feet apart.

For Spencer, the new machines seemed to be a bigger hurdle than the virus, but there were still very few technical issues, she said.

“It just was a trial by error, but we got out the kinks,” she said.

Voter Zoe McKay was in and out in less than 15 minutes. She said she felt comfortable voting in person on Tuesday despite initial concerns about the virus.

“I was really glad that the state actually pushed everything back just so we could get more information on it, be able to really tackle it how we needed to, and I think that the state surprisingly and the county did a really good job with that,” she said.

1:00 p.m.: This is the 26^th year Uretha Gilmore has worked at a voting precinct. Now as the poll manager at Cusseta Road Church of Christ, the complaints come to her, but there weren’t many directed to her Tuesday.

“I think we did good with the new machines,” she said. “You know how people are. We don’t like to change.”

Around 1 p.m., two of the 12 machines still weren’t working, but that problem didn’t cause any delay for voters, Gilmore said.

“Everything else has been fine,” she said.

1:25 p.m.: At Canaan Baptist Church, only three out of the eight available voting machines were working for part of the morning.

Polling staff at Canaan performed system checks on the machines and determined that the poll pads, which issues the voter activation card that voters then use to operate the polling interface, were malfunctioning.

Geist said at 1:25 p.m. that new poll pads were en route to Canaan.

1:30 p.m.: As an afternoon storm converged on Canaan off Woodruff Farm Road, about 50 people stood in line outside, with some reporting persistent issues involving the registration database sending voters to Holsey CME Church on Buena Vista Road.

When some got to Holsey, they were sent back to Canaan.

Khadijah Johnson said the lines were long when she arrived at Canaan around 11:30 a.m. She was leaving two hours later, having just cast her ballot.

Otherwise she had no problem voting, she said, but others did:

“They were having issues with the machines and the readers,” she said of the computerized system’s card scanners. “When you come in and they check your ID to be sure you’re in the right place, they were telling people they were in the wrong place, and sending them to the other church on Buena Vista Road. And once they got over there, they would tell them no, you’ve got to come back here, because this is where you’re supposed to be. So the machines were reading wrong.”

One man told her he’d been sent to four different voting precincts, she said.

Another issue was ballot cards being unreadable, she said. The voting machine would say the card was invalid, and the voter would have to try another one.

“So then you would have to do a paper ballot or keep going back and forth trying to get a card reader that would read,” she said.

Eventually poll workers decided to let voters file provisional ballots, as long as their identification was valid, she said.

Other voters reported no issues, other than the wait.

Chuck Baker said he got to Canaan at 11 a.m. and waited less than an hour to vote.

“They did the best they could, given the situation, with COVID-19 and everything,” he said. “I got in and it probably went as smooth as it could.”

He afterward brought a cooler full of water bottles to hand out to those waiting in line.

Why did he feel it was important to vote Tuesday?

“First of all, everybody deserves the opportunity,” he said. “People need to take advantage of the opportunity, and I think it’s just one of those things, to me it’s like breathing, eating and drinking, one of those things you have to do. If you want to be heard, this is the way to do it.”

If you’ve voted at Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church during the past 10 years, then Amber Wooden was the poll manager there to greet you.

No problems were reported at the precinct Tuesday as of 1:30 p.m.

“We usually keep it pretty smooth here,” she said. “We don’t have any hiccups. We get all the new information in training. We go over it as a team.”

All 12 of the new voting machines and the printers were working all day, Wooden said.

“Nobody has had any issues,” she said. “We haven’t had any complaints.”

The biggest potential concern was when the polls opened at 7 a.m., as the line stretched to the back of the parking lot. But those 104 voters were able to get through within 30 minutes, Wooden said.

“It’s been awesome,” she said.

Wooden emphasized the COVID-19 precautions the precinct’s crew is taking: wearing masks, sanitizing each machine after someone votes, allowing only 10 voters inside at a time and keeping the doors open to bring in a fresh air flow.

Also inspiring Wooden are the younger poll workers at her precinct, including her son.

The message: “It’s not old-fashioned to vote,” she said. “It’s not something just our grandparents do. Everybody needs to come out and vote. And if you keep it running well, then people will want to come out and vote.”

2:00 p.m.: A long early morning line gave way to a steady ebb and flow of voters at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 4400 Reese Road Tuesday.

As of 2 p.m., 339 people have cast their in-person ballots. Voting stations are spaced out across the gym floor and blue X’s mark the spot where people should sit or stand to maintain proper spacing. A majority of the voters here today have worn masks, said poll manager Janie Nellums.

“More (voters) than we expected,” she said. “No complaints so far.”

Three voters who spoke with a Ledger-Enquirer reporter said they had no concerns about coming to the polls during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“I feel protected,” Kiarra Ervin said from behind her red mask with black polka dots. “I feel safe and secure … I did see someone come behind and wipe the voting machine down.”

James Miller, 67, who came to vote with his family, said several issues brought him out to vote, but the Democratic primary for one of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats was among the most important.

“The vote for us is our voice,” he said. “Ms. (Teresa) Tomlinson … I follow her, and when she was the mayor of Columbus, she just didn’t go sit and warm the chair. She got up. She went around and talked to the people. That’s very important.”

3:45 p.m.: Almost 100 people were seen in line by mid-afternoon at Canaan.

Marquese Averett, a voting rights activist who was tracking voting problems, said Canaan and Holsey, 6028 Buena Vista Road, were the precincts with the most persistent and trying issues. Aside from those two, “every precinct in Muscogee County looks pretty good,” he said.

One voter waited four hours to cast his ballot at Canaan, having arrived at 7:30 and finally voted at 11:30 a.m., Averett said.

4 p.m.: Olisa Boden, polling manager at the Columbus Public Library’s main branch on Macon Road, said that the voter turnout had been steady all day, with the biggest line that morning, and minimal technical issues.

Boden said her main concern was the amount of people not able to vote Tuesday due to not having voted in the last three years (so their names were removed from the registered voter list), or having moved and not updated their information.

Almost to illustrate her point, five people exited the building, serving the 102 precinct, within the span of 30 minutes, telling the poll worker outside they were being redirected to their proper precinct.

Voter Joan Buchanan, a native of Panama, recently received her citizenship and was voting for the first time in the U.S. Everything was new to her, so the new voting machines didn’t represent a particular challenge, she said.

Her main reason for voting on Tuesday: “A change.”

A rocky morning at Cornerstone Church of God on 7701 Lloyd Road eventually eased into a typical Election Day afternoon.

Early morning lines flowed in and out of the church and at times reached the dumpsters outside, according to poll manager Ann Porter. This was due to express polls malfunctioning early on in the day.

It took over an hour and a half to fix but once the issues were resolved, the rest of the morning and afternoon went smoothly. Echoing other poll managers in Columbus, Porter says that voters aren’t deterred by the COVID-19 outbreak and have been eager to vote.

“The ones that are coming are excited about voting. The only thing different is that we have to stay a six feet distance and so that makes lines a bit longer,” Porter said. “Getting people in and out is a bit slower as well.”

Porter anticipates the lines to be longer as more people get off of work and even more so now that voting times have been extended by two hours.

4:45 p.m: At the 122nd precinct’s polling location at First African Church, voters have bottlenecked at the entrance due to the polling manager’s decision to use only three of the location’s six available voting machines.

The three machines in use are set up about ten feet apart from one another while three others remain in boxes.

The three unused polling machines are not broken. Polling manager Geraldine Rucker said she decided to only use three because she didn’t expect the location to be busy.

Upon a reporter’s arrival to First African Church, however, half a dozen people were waiting in a small hallway. Tape marking six feet increments in the voting hall did not extend to this hallway, and as a result, waiting voters were spaced roughly a foot apart.

Rucker said the location was busy this morning. She declined to give a turnout estimate prior to the end of voting, but noted that turnout seemed lower than in years past.

Another factor in her decision to use half of the available machines was the building’s lack of electrical outlets, though the three machines in use were hooked up to multi-outlet power strips.

Rucker, who has managed this polling location for 15 years, says that the buildings age limits how much wattage its electric system can handle.

5 p.m.: Elaina Galay was in charge of the 103 precinct at Shirley B. Winston Recreational Center. The precinct was moved last minute from a nearby church on Steam Mill Road, but neither the location change nor the rain seemed to keep people away.

Galay said that as of 4 p.m. the polling location had seen 500 voters. With no long lines or issues with voting machines, Galay said things were “going smooth” and everyone was following instructions.

Evelyn Gill, 63, exited the polling location around 5 p.m. She said she’s voted in elections since she was first able to do so, and believes it’s important to make your vote count.

“I try to make sure that I listen to people that are running for different offices to make sure that they have the same ideas that I have,” she said.

Mischa Dickey exited the rec center after Gill. A regular voter, he said he was just exercising a right that a lot of people fought and died to have.

He said the local District Attorney’s race and the U.S. Senate seat were two he was particularly interested in. He felt a sense of security using the new two-step, paper ballot system.

“Once you print it, you know that you voted,” Dickey said. “I thought we’d get to keep it but we had to turn it in, but I did get to review it and I saw everything that I voted for was on it, so that’s a good way.”

6:00 p.m.: The Psalmond Road Park polling station avoided any delays this morning, because polling manager Frances Rodgers and her crew have been orchestrating early voting for weeks.

“We had no problems this morning. We’ve had no problems all day long,” said Rodgers. “All of my people and I have been working early voting for three weeks, so we were not dealing with machines we were already not familiar with.”

Rodgers said there’s been a consistent line of over 20 voters all day long. Inside, blue markers guide people to social distance while waiting.

This location has 12 voting machines. “We’re working up close to 800 voters,” Rodgers said.

Despite the coronavirus, she estimates it will be “a regular-sized election.” Despite today’s smooth operations, this polling station will remain open until 9 p.m. along with all other precincts in Muscogee County.

9:00 p.m.: Just before 9 p.m., more than 80 Columbus residents stood in line at Canaan Baptist Church on Branton Woods Drive to cast their ballots.

Generous folks, some who voted here many hours before, stayed at the polling location to bring cold drinks and snacks to those waiting in line.

Some far back in line sat in folding chairs while they waited. Those closer to the front, like voter Hunter Miller, had been here for nearly three hours.

”What we’ve seen all afternoon are long lines that have bent towards the street,” said Marquese “Skinny” Averett, a volunteer who brought supplies to voters. “I think it’s disgraceful. I think it’s a failure of leadership not only at the local level, but the statewide level. ...I’m willing to stay here until the last person gets out of line.”

Around 9:45 p.m., voter Earl Woods said the precinct had moved on to provisional ballots. The end of the line was nearly to the door.

This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 11:03 AM.