MOULTRIE, Ga. — A committee has been working for almost a year on a plan to consolidate voting precincts in Colquitt County. Tuesday night, the Colquitt County Board of Commissioners saw what their plan will look like.

The commissioners, at their mid-month meeting, were not asked to take any action on the plan, which was presented to them by County Administrator Chas Cannon. It was more of an update on the committee’s thinking than a formal proposal.

Currently, the county has 19 voting precincts. While Colquitt County was able to staff all 19 during the June 9 election, some other jurisdictions had to close precincts for lack of poll workers. Many poll workers are retirees, whose age puts them at greater risk for COVID-19.

Simultaneously, the state’s early voting process has steadily gained favor among voters. With three weeks to cast a ballot before the election, about half of voters choose to vote ahead of time at the Colquitt County Courthouse Annex rather than wait for Election Day to vote in their own precinct. That was true even before the coronavirus pandemic made mail-in voting incredibly popular in last month’s primary.

The committee plans to cut the number of precincts from 19 to 11, closing eight of them plus moving three to new locations.

All of the changes are planned for 2021, so none will affect this year’s general election Nov. 3.

Precincts that are forecast to close in 2021 are:

• Thigpen: Thigpen Courthouse, 6565 Thigpen Trail, Doerun.

• Hartsfield: Hartsfield Public Library, 103 Bryan Road, Hartsfield.

• Hamilton:  Hamilton VFD, 240 Ga. Hwy. 202, Hartsfield.

• Murphy: Murphy Courthouse, 140 Smithwick Road, Coolidge.

• Lee: Lee Courthouse, 1230 Cannon Road.

• Mill Creek: Schley Baptist Church social hall, 231 Schley Church Road.

• Ty Ty: Ty Ty Community Building, 4182 Ellenton-Omega Road, Omega.

• Crosland: Crosland Baptist Church social hall, 155 J.P. Perry Road, Crosland.

Precincts that are forecast to move in 2021 are:

• Funston, moving from Funston City Hall to Bay Volunteer Fire Department.

• Bridge Creek, moving to Pine Grove Church.

• Norman Park, moving from Norman Park City Hall to an undetermined location.

All other voting sites will remain the same under the plan. 

These are all voting precincts used for county, state and federal elections. Voting sites for municipal elections will not be affected. 

No county, state or federal election is scheduled for 2021, but a special election could be called if the need arises. The first election that is expected to take place using the new sites will be in 2022 — which is also expected to be governed by redistricting based on the 2020 Census, which is going on now.