By Caleb Groves

Cobb County’s 2024 May primaries reached 16.44% voter turnout, lower than in years past.

This year’s voter turnout dropped since the last presidential race, in the 2020 June primaries, when 36.25% of voters cast ballots, according to data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.

Cobb County Director of Elections Tate Fall told the Cobb County Courier she is unsure as to why there is a discrepancy in voter turnout between the two primaries.

“I think part of it could be voter apathy as we vote so much here in Georgia, but it could also be a variety of other reasons,” she said.

Of the 507,683 active voters in Cobb, 83,445 voted this year, 29,027 voted early in person and 3,467 voted via absentee ballots.

During the May 28, 2024, Cobb Board of Elections and Registration meeting, the board unanimously agreed to certify the May primary results in a 5-0 vote.

Prior to certifying the votes, the board discussed challenges faced during May’s primaries.

Poll workers faced a few minor challenges during this year’s primaries, including diverter scanner jams, but “overall it was a very quiet day,” Fall said.

“When there is a write-in on a ballot, those ballots are diverted into a separate tray, because if there is a certified write-in, we have to count those ballots towards that certified write-in to see how many votes that certified individual got,” Fall said during Tuesday’s meeting.

After prolonged use, heat emanating from the machines started to curl ballots, causing them to get caught in the tray. The fix was “easy,” Fall said.

Precinct change for June’s runoffs

The board also temporarily changed the polling location for the Kemp 01 (KPO1) precinct for the primary runoff election.

The current precinct location of Due West Methodist Church will be moved to Harrison High School for June’s runoffs due to summer camps running at the church during the runoffs.

To accommodate voters in the Kemp 01 precinct, Fall plans to mail out cards informing voters of the temporary change.

“I’m hoping to get them mailed by the end of the week, to get them dropped from our vendor by the end of the week,” Fall said. “If not, hopefully early next week.”

The General Primary Runoff Election takes place on June 18, 2024.