MACON, Ga. — Bibb County Election Officer Thomas Gillon is expecting a smoother voting process on Tuesday than the June 9 election.
"We were able to recruit more people so staffing issues won't be as much of an issue as it was," he said.
They have 20 more poll workers this time around.
"Somewhere in the 230-240 range across 31 polling places," Gillon said.
Before June's election, poll workers trained remotely, through videos online, which didn't work out too well with the new voting machines.
"We also decided that it would be much better to have some in-person training, and so we tried to balance getting poll workers in to train them, hands-on equipment with keeping everybody as distant and as safe as possible. It was a balancing act, but I think we did a better job this time," Gillon said.
Now he says they're better prepared to handle the new voting system and manage software glitches.
"The ballot is much shorter and is much simpler, so it'll be less opportunity for any sort of confusion," Gillon said.
They're still taking precautions around COVID-19, so voters can still expect to see social distancing guidelines in place.
"We're still going to space voters out as much as possible, so everyone will stay healthy. The poll workers are all issued masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and disinfectant to use at the polling places and we're encouraging all the voters to use masks and such," Gillon said.
Election supervisors ask that those with absentee ballots bring it to their office off of Pio Nono Avenue and drop it off in the bin outside the entrance.
If you do bring your absentee ballot to your polling location, the workers will cancel it out and you'll head inside to cast your vote.
The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.