Thousands of Georgia voters could have new polling places this November. Will they know where to go?

Nearly 5,800 Forsyth County voters who show up to cast a ballot on Election Day this November will have somewhere new to go.

The county eliminated its South Forsyth precinct in August and adjusted the boundaries of three others, redistributing 5,729 voters among the Big Creek, Johns Creek and Daves Creek precincts.

Forsyth officials say affected voters will receive mailed notices at least 30 days before the Nov. 3 general election, and signs will be posted to catch anyone who still heads to an old location.

That is the kind of change that can sound small on paper but matter a lot to a voter who has been driving to the same church, school or community center for years.

Forsyth is not alone.

In Gwinnett County, nearly 11,000 voters could be sent to new locations because Evangel Community Church will no longer host elections. Cobb County is also considering polling-place changes because some of its usual locations will be unavailable in November.

PeachPol contacted election officials in 12 counties and received responses from five. Among those that replied, Forsyth confirmed precinct and polling-place changes, Gwinnett and Cobb reported pending location changes, while Quitman reported none and Glascock said its consolidation happened earlier this year.

The changes PeachPol identified do not appear to be part of any broader statewide redistricting push. Sabrina German, president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, said the organization is not aware of any current redistricting effort among counties.

Instead, they are the kinds of adjustments counties make from election to election — a building becomes unavailable, a precinct is consolidated or boundaries are shifted to redistribute voters.

But there is an important distinction between changing a precinct boundary and simply moving a polling place.

Georgia election rules require counties to mail written notice to affected voters at least 30 days before an election when precinct boundaries are changed.

Polling-place changes are governed by a different part of state law. Counties generally cannot move a polling place during the 60 days before a general election unless an emergency or other event makes the existing location unavailable.

For the voter standing in front of a locked church door on Election Day, though, that legal distinction may not mean much.

Counties decide the geography. The state turns it into a ballot.

County election offices determine precinct boundaries and polling locations. The Secretary of State’s office then uses the geographic information counties provide to make sure voters receive the contests they are supposed to see.

Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office, said the state maps voter-registration addresses against geographic files submitted by counties.

Those files determine which congressional, legislative, county and other political districts a voter lives in.

“So that when a voter comes in, their ballot is custom created for them at that moment,” Hassinger said.

The state sends its mapping back to counties for review.

“Do they always check it? No,” Hassinger said.

That is when an error can become obvious — when a voter looks at a ballot and realizes a race they expected to see is missing.

The election calendar also puts pressure on counties to settle changes early. Hassinger said the Secretary of State’s office eventually reaches a point when ballot programming has to be “set or locked,” leaving little time to make additional adjustments.

Still, life happens.

A church stops hosting elections. A building develops a problem. A location simply cannot be used.

Georgia law allows counties to move a polling site inside that 60-day window when the current location becomes unavailable.

Hassinger said that is different from redrawing precinct lines. If voters remain in the same political districts and simply move from, say, an elementary school to a YMCA, the change is largely a logistics question.

Nearly 11,000 Gwinnett voters could move

Gwinnett election officials said they are considering two such changes after Evangel Community Church stopped hosting elections.

Under the proposal, 5,203 voters would be assigned to Christian Center International and another 5,696 would vote at Lenora Park Gym.

The county elections board is scheduled to consider the changes Sept. 16.

Gwinnett officials said notices were being published ahead of the vote. If the changes are approved, affected voters would receive updated precinct cards and a separate courtesy letter. The county also plans to post the information online and place signs at the former polling location.

Cobb County is facing a similar situation.

Cobb election officials plan to consider polling-place changes Sept. 14.

“The current locations are unavailable for November,” Cobb Elections Director Leigh Phillips told PeachPol.

Cobb declined to say how many voters could be affected, but officials said they plan to notify voters through precinct cards, social media, the county website, Georgia’s My Voter Page, legal notices and signs at old and new polling locations.

The unavailability of the current sites is important because it is the exception state law allows for a polling-place change this close to a general election.

Forsyth’s change went further

Forsyth did more than move voters from one building to another.

The county eliminated the South Forsyth precinct and changed the boundaries of three others, reassigning 5,729 voters.

Big Creek gained 2,001 voters, Johns Creek gained 2,653 and Daves Creek gained 1,075, according to information provided to PeachPol.

“An Election Day precinct was eliminated and the precinct lines for three other precincts were adjusted in order to reassign voters to a different location,” Forsyth elections official Mandi Smith said.

Because precinct boundaries changed, the county is required to mail notice to affected voters at least 30 days before the election.

Quitman County reported no changes for the general election. Glascock County consolidated polling locations earlier this year and plans to leave large signs at former polling sites through the end of the election year.

The remaining seven counties did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

The safest move: check before you leave home

Counties are using a little bit of everything to alert voters: mailed cards, letters, websites, social media, newspaper notices and signs.

There is a reason for the redundancy.

A letter can miss someone who recently moved. A legal notice can go unread. And a sign at the old polling place only helps after a voter has already driven there.

Hassinger said voters should make checking Georgia’s My Voter Page part of their voting plan before they head out.

“First thing you should do before you pick a day is check your MVP,” he said, adding that information there is updated within 24 hours of a change.

My Voter Page allows voters to check their registration, find advance-voting and Election Day polling locations, and view a sample ballot.

Georgia voters can cast ballots at any advance-voting location in their county during early voting. On Election Day, they must go to their assigned polling place.

For most voters, that location will be exactly where they expect it to be.

For thousands of others this November, it may be worth checking anyway.

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