Election Director Says Procedures In Place Prevent Double Voting

At of the end of the day on Monday, Oconee County’s Elections and Registration Office had received and processed 6,064 absentee ballot requests from the county’s 31,278 registered voters.

The Secretary of State Office has hired a vender who is mailing out the ballots, and that process is underway.

In fact, by the end of the day on Monday, 1,076 of the county’s voters already had returned a ballot–completing their voting process for the Nov. 3 election.

Those voters, and others who cast their ballots absentee, will be prevented from voting a second time–either intentionally or by mistake--through a process of checks that are in place, according to Fran Leathers, director of Elections and Registration for the county.

Leathers participated in a virtual question and answer session earlier in the month and responded to questions about a variety of election issues, including double voting.

Leathers explained how someone who has asked for and received an absentee ballot can cancel that ballot and vote in person either when early voting starts on Oct. 12 or on election day itself on Nov. 3.

During the hour-long virtual session, Leathers gave an overview of polling procedures and a preview of the vote tallying process.

She assured those participating in the virtual session that Oconee County voters at least will know the outcome of voting in the county several hours after polls close at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3.

For more on the story, with a video of the session with Leathers, please go to Oconee County Observations.