How Georgia Votes
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The League of Women Voters of Georgia is publishing a special series of articles in their The Gold Dome and Beyond newsletter. The articles examine our electoral process and why it guarantees accuracy and deserves our trust every week between now and the Nov. 3 midterms.
Please follow along as we chart the processes, the policies and the people that keep our elections free, fair and accurate.
How Georgia Votes: Inside the Polling Place: What to Expect
October 8, 2026
Early in-person voting is set to begin in Georgia on Oct. 13, in just five days. If you’ve chosen to vote in person, either early or on election day, you won’t be alone. More than one million Georgia voters cast ballots early during the May primaries, and most of them voted in person. A small fraction voted by mail. Just under half of primary ballots were cast on election day. Despite the convenience and security of mail-in ballots, the majority of voters still prefer to vote in person.
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Can I Find Out What's On the Ballot Before I Go?
To review a sample ballot prior to heading to the polls, visit the My Voter Page and give your information to view the ballot that is specific to you and your district. You’ll save time in the ballot booth and can make informed decisions about candidates and ballot questions. You can even write down your choices and take your list into the voting booth with you. Don’t use your phone so no one mistakenly accuses you of taking a picture of your ballot, which is prohibited.
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Do You Know Where You're Going?
Before heading to the polls, check to see where early voting is offered, or make certain your precinct for election day voting hasn’t changed. Early voting locations may be changed at the discretion of local elections officials, for many reasons. Your county’s elections department website should provide the current locations. The My Voter Page will confirm your precinct location. Electors showing up to vote at the elections office on election day is a very common mistake. Elections offices are often used as early in-person voting places but cannot be used as precincts on election day.
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What Happens Once I Get to the Polls?
Every voter has their first time at the polls. Even long-time poll workers must be trained every single election. Regardless of how many elections you’ve participated in, let’s walk through the process.
A poll worker will check your ID and match it to your voter registration. There are six forms of identification that are valid to use at the polls. For a complete list, see below. The worker will check that your voter registration is valid, give you the voter card specific to your ballot and direct you to a voting machine.
The voting machines are user friendly and will walk you through the process but, if you have a question or a problem, a poll worker or poll manager can help. They cannot vote for you, i.e., make your voter selections on the touch screen.
Once you complete your selections, print your ballot and verify that it matches the choices you made. Take it and the voter card to the tabulator. A poll worker will be waiting to help.
Insert the ballot into the machine, wait for it to be accepted, return the voter card, and proudly wear your I’m a Georgia Voter sticker.
To learn all about valid voter identification, read The Name on Your ID Is Your Ticket to the Polls.
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What If I Have Limited Mobility or Physical Problems That Make It Difficult to Use the Voting Machines?
The Secretary of State’s office has tried to anticipate and accommodate people with disabilities. Headsets are available to read the ballot to the visually impaired. People with disabilities that affect their motor control can use machines with large controls or which accommodate sip-and-puff devices. Every polling place has one machine that is lower for those who need to vote while seated. The machines also have visual, audio and tactile modes to accommodate a variety of physical challenges.
If you are over 75, you do not have to stand in line but can go directly into the polls.
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Can I Help Someone Else Vote?
Citizens sometimes require assistance when exercising the right to vote and you may want to help. In that case, the person requiring help must designate you as their assistant. Assistance is limited to voters who cannot read English, who cannot see or mark the ballot, or who cannot operate the equipment or enter the voting station without help. The assistant cannot be the voter’s employer or an agent of the employer, or a member or agent of the voter’s union. No candidate can offer assistance, nor can any relative of a candidate. The assistant must be announced during check-in, at which time the poll worker will record that assistance will be given, along with recording one of two general reasons for the assistance. The assistant is required to sign the poll pad, declaring the assistance for the record. Assistance may be challenged.
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Do I Need to Worry About The SAVE Act and Identification?
Probably not. There are two different things with the acronym SAVE. The SAVE America Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) would require proof of citizenship in order to vote and is ostensibly intended to prevent non-citizens from voting. It has passed the House but not the Senate. The Supreme Court ruled recently on the other SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements), a 40-year-old database which the Department of Homeland Security revamped as a tool for states to check the citizenship of voters. Voting rights advocates say that the updated database is flawed. The SAVE America Act will have no impact on the midterms. The SAVE database, should Georgia decide to use it, could affect some voters.
To be sure, check your voter registration now at the League of Women Voters Vote411 to avoid problems at the polls.
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