Voter registration to end Monday

Published 5:57 pm Thursday, February 20, 2020

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Georgians have until Monday to register to vote if they want to cast a vote in the presidential primary on March 24.

According to Georgia’s Secretary of State website, the March 24 election will only decide the presidential election.

Candidates for local elections will be able to qualify for local office starting at 9 a.m. on Monday, March 2. Qualifying will last until noon on Friday, March 6. U.S. and state congressional and senate seats will not have a primary until May 19.

As for the presidential primary, if voters choose the Republican side of the ticket, there is only one choice — incumbent President Donald Trump.

As a Democrat, there are several options between former Vice President Joe Biden, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren.

According to the Troup County Elections website, residents have several ways to register. Residents can download an application through a link on the website or use a link to register online.

Prospective voters can also contact the board of elections and registration office, public library, public assistance office, recruitment office, schools and other government offices for a mail-in registration form.

Troup County residents can also email a request for a voter registration application form to aharper@troupco.org.

To qualify to vote, a resident must be a citizen of the U.S., be a legal resident of the county they want to vote in, be at least 18 years old by election day, not be serving a sentence for having been convicted of a felony and not have been judicially determined to be mentally incompetent, unless the disability has been removed.

If a voter misses the Feb. 24 deadline to vote in the presidential primary, the next voter registration cut-off date is April 20 to vote in the general Georgia primary, which will determine party nominates for many federal, state and local races.

Another reason the March 24 election is significant in Georgia is because it will be the first time voters statewide use Georgia’s new secure paper-ballot system, according to a news release from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

“The secure paper-ballot system is in place to provide voters assurance their ballots are secure. Georgians need to do their part by registering,” Raffensperger said in the release. 

“We have made registering easy and convenient, which is why the number of Georgia voters is soaring.”