MACON, Ga. — As we're gearing up towards election night in Central Georgia, election offices all across the state already have their work cut out for them.
That's because on Friday, the state election board passed several new rules, including one requiring all ballots to be hand counted.
Ballot-season keeps folks busy at the Houston County Board of Elections. Election Assistant Andy Holland said now, they might be even busier.
"We've already done half of our poll worker training last week, before the rule change on Friday. We'll have to go back and go over those procedures with the poll workers," Holland said.
The new rule would require a poll manager and two poll officers to unseal ballot boxes, remove and record the ballots, and have them counted by three people to make sure their ballot totals match the ballot total numbers from the scanner.
According to the Secretary of State's Office:
"Once all three counts match, they sign a control document. If discrepancies arise between the hand count and recorded totals, the poll manager must resolve and document the inconsistency. The counted ballots are sealed in labeled containers, signed to ensure integrity."
Holland said it could affect their timeline on election night.
"If anything, it could slow down a little bit getting the results you know, out. But I don't see it being a huge delay," Holland said.
He said he thinks it's an unnecessary step, because they haven't had problems with the scanners before.
"With it being three people, all coming up with the same total - some concerns being they've just worked a 12-plus hour day," Holland said.
Over at the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections, Election Supervisor Thomas Gillon said he also thinks the hand-counts are unnecessary.
"We make sure that they're properly stored and secured once they do come back in. So security and accuracy is how we do things," Gillon said.
He wants folks to rest assured that poll workers aren't tallying the votes, but just counting the number of ballots cast.
"There are so many checks and balances to make sure we know who has been sent absentee ballots. And so those are the only people we expect absentee ballots back from," Gillon said.
Nearly 71,000 people voted in Macon-Bibb in 2020, but Gillon said he couldn't say how many people voted in person.
Holland said they expect about 30,000 to 35,000 people to vote in person this year.
The last day to register to vote is Oct. 7, early in-person voting begins Oct. 15, and the general election is Nov. 5.