ATLANTA — State officials are telling poll workers not to bet on the upcoming election.
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To make sure they know it’s illegal, the state elections director sent out a memo to all 159 Georgia counties warning them.
Channel 2’s Richard Elliot reports there are no reported incidents of poll workers betting on elections, yet.
But Blake Evans, the state elections director, says he is being proactive to stop it before it happens.
He said not only is it illegal for poll workers to bet on elections, it’s illegal for anyone to do it.
Deidre Holden, the elections director for Paulding County, said when she got this memo from the state elections director reminding her and the other supervisors that it’s illegal for poll workers to gamble on an election, well, you could’ve knocked her over with a feather.
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“And you know that never crossed my mind, I guess. I mean, I never even had heard of that until he sent that memo out,” Holden said.
“My understanding is it’s illegal to be a poll worker or an election worker and bet on elections in Georgia, said state election director Blake Evans.
The Georgia law states that “a person commits the offense of gambling by making a bet on the result of a political nomination, appointment or election.”
With the rise of these so-called prediction markets, Evans thought it was best to freshen some memories.
“And I think prediction markets are just a relatively new thing, and we wanted to get out in front of it and let folks know that you cannot bet on elections here in Georgia,” Evans said.
And for Holden, already prepping for the November midterms, gambling is just one more thing for her to worry about.
“People don’t understand the things we have to worry about in elections, and now you just added to it. I got to worry about my poll workers went out and betting on an election,” Holden said.
Again, there are no instances of anything like that happening across Georgia.
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