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As Georgia voters continue to shatter early voting records across the state, officials say a pilot project undertaken by the Secretary of State’s Elections Division in 18 county elections offices has notably decreased wait times. This new program is expected to be implemented statewide by the 2024 presidential election.

The new early voting check-in process provides voter check-in faster and decreases the opportunity for data entry errors, according to information from the Secretary of State’s office.

“This improvement makes the check-in process even faster for voters, and it reinforces our commitment to support Georgia election officials and their poll workers,” said State Elections Director Blake Evans.

Traditionally, early voters have had to complete and sign a paper application to check in. With this new process, the check-in is entirely on a Poll Pad, which is very similar to the voter experience on election day. At the end of the transaction, a poll worker prints a paper copy that the county keeps as evidence of the check-in.

Evans said the new streamlined check-in solution has received rave reviews from county officials who have been part of the pilot program. Specifically, the new process has been praised for its speed, accuracy, reliability, and ease-of-use.

Among the counties chosen to participate in the pilot are Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas Hall, Jackson, Oconee and Paulding.

According to reports from the Secretary of State’s office, very few problems have been reported throughout the first and second weeks of early voting. Election officials anticipate hitting the two million mark during early voting and expect strong turnout during the last week of early voting. However, they said with the large number of voters, peak times may experience longer waits.

The Secretary of State’s office announced late last week that an incident involving a USPS truck may have impacted a small number of absentee ballots. According to officials, an inquiry in conjunction with the county and the USPS has determined that Baker County had a total of 43 ballots that had been mailed to voters, but not yet returned.

After processing absentee ballots received that day, Baker elections officials found only six ballots that had not yet been returned and contacted each of the six voters who had requested them. All six voters still had their ballots in the possession and had not yet returned them to the elections office. No ballots were affected in the fire, according to the Secretary of State’s office,

In other news, a call for special election has been issued in Georgia House of Representatives District 129 due to the passing of state Rep. Henry “Wayne” Howard. The special election date has been set for December 20th, 2022.