Voter Assistance Available

“In our government ‘by the people’ we owe it to each other to make sure we all vote.”

Common Cause Georgia today announced resources that will be available to help voters during Early Voting in Georgia’s primary election – which starts Monday.

Voters who have questions or problems can contact the nonpartisan Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE. Started in the wake of the 2000 presidential election, the program is now run by a nonpartisan coalition of more than 100 organizations. It has more than 40,000 volunteers nationwide, including more than 1,000 in Georgia.

Voters who need transportation to vote can contact The People’s Agenda https://thepeoplesagenda.org/ or New Georgia Project https://newgeorgiaproject.org/rides/ and register for free rides to and from the polls.

Dates that voters should know:

• Monday, May 2 – Early Voting Begins. Polls open from 9 am to 5 pm
• Saturday, May 7 – Saturday Early Voting.
• Friday, May 13 – Deadline to submit application for absentee ballot.
• Saturday May 14 – Saturday Early Voting
• Friday, May 20 – Last Day of Early Voting. Polls open from 9am to 5pm
• Tuesday, May 24 – Election Day. Polls open from 7am to 7 pm

Voters can check the status of their mail ballot and find other information on the state’s “My Voter Page” at https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/. Some voters have reported problems with the website; and voters looking for their poll location may want to confirm with their county elections office, instead.

Common Cause Georgia is recruiting volunteers to be nonpartisan poll monitors as part of the Election Protection program. Volunteers are particularly needed in Dougherty, Douglas, Fayette, Floyd, Forsyth, Hall, Henry, Lowndes, Macon-Bibb, Mitchell, Muscogee, Richmond/Columbia, Spalding, and Tift counties. Poll monitors are provided training before being deployed.

The group also urges Georgians to consider serving as official poll workers. Poll workers are an essential part of our voting infrastructure, and in 2020, more than 27,000 Georgians served as poll workers in the Peach State. More information about serving as a poll worker is available at https://georgiapollworkers.sos.ga.gov/Pages/default.aspx. People who are willing to serve should contact their local elections office; a list of those offices is available at https://elections.sos.ga.gov/Elections/countyelectionoffices.do. 

A downloadable “Election Day Planning Guide” is available here.

Statement of Common Cause Georgia Executive Director Aunna Dennis

Our ‘government by the people’ is stronger and more representative when we all participate by voting. 

But the anti-voter legislation that’s been pushed through our legislature means that it will be harder for some voters to vote this year. So it’s more important than ever for Georgia voters to make a plan to vote – and maybe make a backup plan, too. 

This year, it’s also important for us to encourage each other to cast our ballots. In our government ‘by the people’ we owe it to each other to make sure we all vote.

For anyone who is confused by the new rules or has problems voting, help is available through the nonpartisan Election Protection hotline. Just call 866-OUR-VOTE. The program has been around for more than two decades; it’s run by a nonpartisan coalition of more than 100 organizations; and it has a lot of expertise in helping voters. 

So Georgians don’t have to find our way through the new rules alone. If we have questions, we can contact either our country elections office or the nonpartisan hotline.

We urge all voters in Georgia to make sure we make our voices heard in this election. Our ‘government by the people’ needs all of us to take part in it.