Gwinnett sees another day of long wait times, lines as early voting continues

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County has one of the highest voter turnouts so far for early voting in the November election.

Voters turned out in droves once again Wednesday as Day 3 of early voting got underway.

Channel 2 Gwinnett County bureau chief Tony Thomas has found that wait times across that county are all over the board.

Election officials say while things seem to be improving at times at polling locations, they’re still having problems with the state system.

Thomas spoke with voter Arlene Carr, who told him at that point she had been waiting about 2 hours and 15 minutes to cast her ballot at the Gwinnett County Elections Headquarters.

“I think more could do done. Enthusiasm is one thing, but having these long lines is another,” Carr said.

Monday’s and Tuesday’s lines in Lawrenceville stretched to eight hours at times, but Wednesday had shrunk at times to an hour.

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Inside, election officials overnight added five more voting stations and two additional check-in stations, hoping that would ease the crunch somewhat.

For Jennifer Lundstedt and her son Jake, they found lines at Shorty Howell Park pushed four hours early Wednesday but dropped to 20 minutes by midday -- just in time for Jake to cast his first ever ballot.

“There probably wasn’t a line that could scare me out of voting today. I intend to vote,” Jake Lundstedt said.

Gwinnett elections leaders are looking to potentially add more machines there, too, if space allows, but aren’t sure if that will help.

They say the state elections system continues to slow down and at times stop altogether, creating frustration and confusion behind the scenes.

These are problems they hope voters aren’t noticing as they wait.

Thomas ran across Carr again as she was casting her vote, about an hour after he initially spoke with her. She said her total wait time was 3 hours and 16 minutes.

“I need to make sure my vote counts, to make sure it’s in and my voice is heard,” Carr said.

Gwinnett’s elections director told Thomas that historically, demand for early voting will drop off in about the middle of the second week and then they will see another surge of voters for the final week of early voting.

Early voting wait times at State Farm arena and other sites in metro Atlanta

Cox Media Group