Meanwhile, Voting In Cobb County Going Relatively Smoothly

Ed posted a bit ago about election problems in Atlanta. There are similar reports of precincts being absolute fubar in DeKalb.

This is where if one wanted to start finger pointing (some have “non-profits” dedicated to this finger pointing as a permanent industry), one should know and understand that the administration of elections is a county function. Whether it’s incompetence or by design, Fulton County manages to excel at bungling elections.

A report from Cobb: I arrived at my precinct in East Marietta at 10:26am. This was the line at the time. The entrance is on the far end of the building pictured:

The line didn’t move much at first, but then became somewhat regular. Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as the space for social distancing made it appear. I was in the building 25 minutes after I got in line. It took 31 minutes total for me to get my voting card, and I was at a voting machine at 11:04 – 38 minutes after getting out of my car.

Inside there were 6 voting machines in use, plus one that appeared to be reserved for disabled voters. There was also a long line of people waiting to cast provisional ballots. Overhearing the conversations between them and poll workers, it appeared they wanted to vote in person and cancel their previously mailed ballots.

FWIW, my precinct is roughly balanced between Republican and Democratic voters.

I post all of this because it’s clear there is an effort to blame the selection of “new machines” for long lines and utter ineptness at Fulton and DeKalb voting locations. Fulton County just put out a call to hire election workers SATURDAY.

There’s going to be a lot of finger pointing as there is after every election. The local administration of these elections must receive a higher level of scrutiny. At least one Democratic Representative is willing to put blame where a long track record demonstrates it is earned.

It’s hard to believe that Fulton County can actually be this incompetent every time they’re asked to host an election. A full investigation is needed.

Meanwhile, the line at my precinct in Cobb had worked down to probably less than 5 minutes by the time I was leaving. I’m glad to live where there are some signs of competence in the delivery of vital government services.