Final day to register to vote and important upcoming dates

GILMER COUNTY, Ga. – Today, April 25, 2022, is the last day to register to vote in the General Primary Election, Nonpartisan General Election, and Special Election for Gilmer County. But the day has statewide implications as more than just local offices are up for the election date.

Local contested offices up for vote include BOC Post 2 Commissioner candidates John Marshall (R), Tom Whatley (R), and Gary Engel (R), BOE Post 4 candidates Michael Bramlett and
Michele Penland, BOE Post 5 candidates Jacob Callihan and Sam Snider, and Lime Stone Valley Soil & Water Conservation District candidates Ronald P. Cheslock, Michael A. Bushey, and Blake Hoffman.

Citizens can visit the Voter Registration Office at the Gilmer County Courthouse at 1 Broad Street in Ellijay, Georgia, or they can visit Secretary of State’s Online Voter Registration site. The site holds more than just registration, though, as citizens can check their polling locations, provide mail-in applications, and check sample ballots for the upcoming election. The site provides the address in Gilmer County for your polling location as well as providing a Precinct Card that you can print.

With election day, May 23, 2022, fast approaching, some citizens may wish to vote early. Early voting in Gilmer County begins on May 2, 2022 and continues until May 20, 2022. Each day, early voting is available from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

In addition, Gilmer County is continuing to offer certain Saturdays for early voting as it has done in previous elections. Those dates include Saturday, May 7, 2022, and Saturday, May 14, 2022. These days will be available from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

If any offices require a run-off election, that date is already set for June 21, 2022.

For those wishing to apply for absentee vote, the last day to apply will be May 13, 2022, this will also be the last day that the office will mail an absentee ballot. Gilmer’s Voter Registrar’s Office provides the following information on absentee vote:

To confirm the identity of the voter, the absentee voting application requires the elector to provide all of the following:

• Their name
• Date of birth
• Address as registered
• Address to where the elector wants ballot to be mailed
• The number of their Georgia driver’s license or identification card

When you send an application for an absentee ballot, you must include the number from your driver’s license. If you do not have a driver’s license, use the number from your state-issued identification card, which you can aquire for free at any office of the Department of Driver Services or your county voter registration office.

However, if you have neither a driver’s license nor a state ID card, then provide . . .

A copy or photo of one of the following:

• United States Passport
• Georgia voter identification card
• Other valid photo identification card issued by a branch, department, agency, or entity of the State of Georgia, any other state, or the United States authorized by law to issue personal identification
• United States military identification card provided that such identification card contains a photograph of the voter
• Employee identification card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the United States government, Georgia state government, or Georgia county, municipality, board, authority, or any other entity of the state of Georgia provided that such employee identification card contains a photograph of the voter
• Tribal identification card, provided that such identification card contains a photograph of the voter

Or an acceptable document that shows your name and address:

• Current utility bill

• Bank statement

• Paycheck

• Government check

• Other government document