ATLANTA — It's no secret that Georgia's June primary was plagued with problems which impacted voter experience. One of the counties that saw many issues was Fulton. Some precincts saw extremely long lines that made the process frustrating for voters.
Election officials have been working for weeks now to make changes prior to Tuesday's runoff election. Here's a look at some of the adjustments.
Early voting access
Last month, State Farm Arena was transformed into an early voting location. It allowed for more people to be able to come in and vote with social distancing. The venue will be used again for early voting ahead of the General Election, beginning Oct. 12, 2020.
Training for poll workers
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, election officials had to keep that in mind when training its poll workers.
Earlier this month, Fulton County officials told 11Alive it takes two to four hours to become a certified Fulton county elections poll worker. They limited the number of people in each class due to the coronavirus and had personal protective equipment for training.
The training covered opening and closing procedures for each precinct, a thorough understanding of the new voting machines, and other measures.
Staffing at polling precincts
Long lines were seen at voting precincts across the county as too many voters were assigned to a single precinct. Staffing issues impacted the county due to COVID-19.
"We worked very hard on staffing, recruiting people and training our staff," said Robb Pitts, Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissions. "Thousands of people applied to become poll workers and we have been working with and training many of those so we will be well staffed, well prepared for tomorrow."
There were also equipment challenges.
Each polling location will be staffed with one additional clerk and technician.
More locations to vote
Fulton County officials told 11Alive earlier this month that they were adding voting locations and were up to more than 170. They also plan on having 220 locations by the November general election.
Call center for absentee ballots
Since there's been a high volume for absentee ballots during the pandemic, Fulton County worked to dedicate a call center to support the absentee ballot requests.