MACON, Ga. — Over two months since former Bibb County Elections Supervisor Jeanetta Watson left her position, the board is still scrambling to find a permanent replacement.
After Watson left her post in January, Tom Gillon took over as interim supervisor. Gillon says things are full speed ahead in the office with less than two months to go until the general primary on May 24.
"So far, so good," Gillon said, talking about his team's work so far.
It's business as usual at the elections office. Gillon says the team is busy. Their next task is proofing the ballots.
"Make sure the spelling is right, all the wording on the questions is correct," Gillon explained. "Then once we sign off on that, they send us the software that we use to program the touch screens."
May 24 is a big day. They're working to make sure things run smoothly with or without a permanent supervisor.
"Test every piece of equipment that goes out to the polling place, and the ones we use for advanced voting, and make sure that they function, and read the ballots correctly and produce the ballots correctly," Gillon said.
Supplies are boxed up and ready to go. Things don't look too different from 2020, but one early voting place is missing this year.
"One of the advanced voting locations we used, the Theron Ussery Recreation Center, is being renovated right now so we don't have access to that," Gillon explained.
Primary preparations aren't the only big order of business at the elections office. Thursday, the board met to narrow down its list of candidates for the permanent elections supervisor post. Gillon says there are a couple factors to determine who supervises the May election if the board makes its decision in time.
"We may have someone who has come from another county election board, and they could come in reasonably up to speed on how everything runs here," Gillon said.
Gillon's name is in the hat for the full-time position, so he's kept out of a lot of the planning.
They're still looking for poll workers to make sure things run to plan on election day. You can apply at the elections office or at maconbibb.us.