WAYCROSS, Ga. — Early voting started Tuesday in Georgia and as voters headed to the polls, some counties were still dealing with clean-up efforts nearly three weeks after Hurricane Helene.
In Waycross, officials said even though some precincts were without power for days after Helene, everything was up and running for early voting to start as scheduled.
Driving through Waycross, you’ll still see some power lines down and piles of debris waiting to be picked up, all signs of Helene which swept through the area.
“I am still dealing with finishing getting leaves up out my yard, luckily no trees fell down, just limbs from the pine trees," said Alvin Kenndey, who is still cleaning up damage from Helene.
Hundreds of Georgia Power customers like Kenndey lost power during the hurricane.
The Ware County Supervisor of Elections Carlos Nelson said his team started making preparations for early voting even when the power was out so they would be ready for the polls to open.
“We checked on all of our precincts, everyone has power, there was some damage here and there to parts of our precincts but nothing to affect voting," Nelson said.
Many people at the polls Tuesday said they vote early to help decrease the strain on polling locations come election day.
“Beat the crowd, because there’s going to be a big crowd and you should vote early if you can," said Rebecca Green, an early voter.
As the polls closed at 6 p.m., Nelson said over 900 people had cast an early ballot in Ware County.
"Turn out has been great, like I said, the enthusiasm has been good. Everybody has been really good, cooperative and it's been a good first day and just hoping the next 16 days are like this," Nelson said.
The Georgia Secretary of State said early voting started in all 159 counties as planned. In Georgia, early voting runs from Oct. 15 to Nov. 1.