HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — After 13 years of working in the Houston County Board of Elections office, Andy Holland says the 2020 presidential election is unlike any other.
"Starting with, we're on our new equipment that the state purchased, this is the first year using it, which it so far is working great, but that was a learning experience for both us and our poll workers to get used to the new equipment, then you throw in COVID-19," Holland said.
With large turnouts for this presidential election, they're working through long lines at Houston County's three early voting locations.
"Well right now, we're sitting at 26,500 early voters and an additional 15,000 absentee ballots have returned, so we're close to 41,000 people have voted in Houston County already," Holland said.
He expects Friday, the last day of the early voting period, to be the busiest.
"You're probably going to have to stand in line a little bit no matter what time you show up. Your best bet would be to show up very first thing in the morning even before the polls open, or mid-afternoon," he said.
Holland says the biggest difference with this election is the record-high amount of mail-in ballots, which makes it hard to know what to expect with voter turnout on Election Day.
"By the time we get done early voting, we'll have voted 50% of Houston County and the other 50% could certainly show up on election day, so I expect the turnout is going to be very high, so you'll still see large number of people out on election day," Holland said.
If you choose not to vote early, Election Day is on Tuesday, November 3.