Early voting in Augusta begins but with a new twist

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) -Early voting is underway in Augusta, with many in the city getting their civic duty done before Election day.

“There’s a lot going on since the hurricane. I came out on the first day because I’m going back to work and it’s going to be hard to get down here,” said Renee Fields.

Hurricane recovery efforts didn’t stopping hundreds of voters from getting out, lining up and casting ballots on this first day of early voting.

“I want my vote to count, and I wanted to make sure they’ll take it you know if it’s a problem I want to have time to fix it,” said Allen Prouty.

It’s normal to see voting at the Municipal Building on the first day of early voting, but for a presidential election, this is new.

The other three satellite locations are also open through all of advance voting.

“In previous years, we had the downtown location for the first two weeks and then we had the satellite sites open for the last week. Of course, we’ve been doing this all year long. For a presidential election year, to have all four sites open for the very first day, is really a good thing,” said Travis Doss, Richmond County Elections Director.

And voters are taking advantage of their polling options.

“There was no crowd. We walked right in. We might have had eight people in front of us. It was easy, in and out and it was done,” said Linda Bargeron.

Early voting runs through Nov. 1, but many voters now no longer have to worry about casting their ballot.

“I was proud to vote too. I had enjoyment it’s a feeling of accomplishment,” said M. Roland.

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