By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

The Morgan County Board of Elections and Registration discussed details pertaining to the November General Election.
Early Advance Voting has begun, with an average of 220 voters at the polls each day.
“Day by day it’s picking up,” said Bobby Howington, elections supervisor.
He later shared that of the 11,753 registered voters in 2008, 9,209 voted for a turnout of 78.35 percent. He also added that there has been an increase in voter registration over the last few years and that there are approximately 12,000 voters in the county now.
“There’s got to be a dramatic uptick to maintain what we did four years ago,” he said, adding that it may pick up after Monday night’s presidential debate. “Early voting will be quite heavy for the next two weeks.”
Seven names have been added to the list of poll workers. All were from previous applications and all have been trained. If necessary, poll workers can be moved to another precinct.
Board member Helen Butler shared her concern about running short on poll workers and Howington said that board members can be stationed at precincts as needed.
As to Saturday voting, the board determined that Howington would not be needed that day but that he would keep the county phone on him so that he could be reached if necessary. Saturday voting will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 27.
Saturday voting turnouts in March and July of this year were “dismal,” according to Howington, with only 20 and 40 people, respectively, showing up.
“I can’t see over 120 (voters) that day, tops,” he said.
Moore has agreed to assist in delivery and pick up of the voting equipment on Nov. 5 and 7.
If there are provisional ballots, Howington said, they would need to be processed on Friday night.
Certification will be at noon Nov. 9. Howington and at least two board members will need to sign those documents if there are no provisional ballots and a quorum of board members will need to sign if there are provisional ballots.
A cell phone repeater has been installed in Bostwick. The repeater has a one-year warranty and will be maintained by the Board of Elections, not the county.

Printed in the October 25, 2012 edition