Henry County voters are reporting waits exceeding an hour at early voting sites this month, with two Stockbridge locations remaining closed until Oct. 26 — a gap some voters believe is making lines worse everywhere else. Early voting for the November 3 general election began October 13 and runs through October 30, but only four of the county's six designated sites have been open during the first stretch.
J.P. Moseley Recreation Center and Fairview Recreation Center, both in Stockbridge, will not open until October 26, according to a Henry County elections office staff member cited by CBS News Atlanta. In the meantime, voters have had to rely on four open locations spread across McDonough, Hampton, Locust Grove and Stockbridge — the Merle Manders Conference Center, Heritage Park Recreation Center, Locust Grove Library and Fortson Public Library. The staff member could not explain why the two Stockbridge recreation centers were delayed and was unsure whether voters had been directly notified, though the elections office said it posted notices on the county website, on social media, and at both delayed locations, the station's report notes.
Lines Longer On Some Days Than Others
Voter Tonya Scott told the outlet her Tuesday visit to the Merle Manders Conference Center in Stockbridge took approximately an hour or more, with a noticeably longer line than she expected. She said the line was a lot longer that day compared to when she returned to vote Thursday, when her wait dropped to less than 30 minutes and the experience went smoothly. Other voters said wait times simply varied depending on when they arrived. James Swann said he got in and out in 30 to 40 minutes, describing a line inside that moved quickly.
A CBS News Atlanta viewer told the station they believe the delayed opening of the two early-voting locations may be contributing to the waits, though that remains a voter's own assessment rather than a finding from election officials. The Henry County Board of Elections and Voter Registration voted to delay the opening of the two Stockbridge sites in September, per the same account, before early voting began.
Who Oversees Henry County's Election Rollout
The timing follows a period of transition in the county's election leadership. Former Henry County Elections Director Ameika Banks resigned in October 2024 after an internal review uncovered procedural mistakes and administrative errors, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Axiver Harris now serves as Henry County's Interim Director of Elections and Voter Registration, running operations from the county's central election office on South Zack Hinton Parkway in McDonough, per the Henry County government website.
The county's elections board that approved the staggered site schedule is a five-member advisory body made up of two Democratic Party appointees, two Republican Party appointees and one Board of Commissioners appointee, with members compensated at $250 per month, according to the same Henry County government page. Henry County has grown to roughly 250,000 residents, with Black residents forming the county's largest racial group at more than 50% of the population, based on 2024 estimates from Data USA drawn from U.S. Census Bureau data.
Statewide Rules Shape The Lines
Statewide, election officials anticipated that a new check-in procedure requiring poll workers to manually log paper numbered voter lists could modestly increase wait times this cycle, according to WGAU Radio. That requirement is separate from Henry County's site-opening schedule but adds another layer to the delays voters have reported. Georgia law, through Senate Bill 202's Election Integrity Act, mandates at least 17 days of early voting for general elections and requires offices to stay open Monday through Friday plus two mandatory Saturdays, a baseline Henry County's 17-day window from October 13 through October 30 meets.
Voters are not restricted to their home precinct during this advance-voting period. Georgia Election Code treats early voting as absentee in-person voting, meaning any registered county voter can cast a ballot at any open site in Henry County rather than being tied to an assigned precinct, as is required on Election Day. Voters also have legal protection if lines run long during work hours: Georgia statutory law requires employers to grant up to two hours of necessary time off to vote during early voting or on Election Day, provided workers give reasonable advance notice.
As of 4 p.m. Thursday, Henry County elections officials had reported 13,272 ballots cast out of 189,393 active voters, putting turnout at about 7%. The two Stockbridge recreation centers are set to open October 26, giving voters there access to all six sites for the final days of early voting before Election Day on November 3.
