Rockdale Citizen

CONYERS -- With early voting coming to a close on Nov. 2, more than 35 percent of Rockdale County's active registered voters have already cast ballots.

Early voting proved to be popular with Rockdale voters on Saturday, when long lines were reported at the Rockdale County Board of Elections and Registration on Parker Road. Some voters said they waited two hours in line Saturday to cast their ballot in the Nov. 6 General Election.

In all, more than 1,650 Rockdale voters cast ballots on Saturday, bringing the total number of votes already cast as of Saturday to 17,738. Of that total, 15,961 were cast in person and 1,777 were mailed ballots. Of the mail ballots sent out to voters, 790 have yet to be returned.

The precinct showing the highest voter turnout in early voting was Barksdale, with 1,476 total votes cast. The Rockdale precinct was a close second with 1,412 votes already cast.

In addition to Rockdale County, long lines were reported Saturday in Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett counties. Secretary of State Brian Kemp said Friday at least 780,565 Georgians had voted early in the General Election.

Rockdale's Supervisor of Elections Cynthia Welch has projected a 72 percent turnout overall for the General Election.

Early in-person voting continues according to the following schedule:

-- Tuesday, Oct. 30, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

-- Wednesday through Friday, Oct. 31 -- Nov. 2, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

All early in-person voting takes place at the Rockdale County Board of Elections and Registration, 1400 Parker Road, Lobby C, Conyers.

Voters are reminded to bring one of the six forms of acceptable photo ID in order to vote. The six are:

-- A valid Georgia drivers license, even if expired

-- A valid photo ID card issued by any state or U.S. government

-- A valid United States passport

-- A valid government employee photo identification card

-- A valid United States military identification car

-- A valid tribal identification card with photo.

Provisional ballots are available for those who do not have one of the above photo IDs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.