Voter Registrar Mary Hammontree stands inside a seldom photographed room where voting machines are securely stored at the Whitfield County Courthouse.
photo by Mitch Talley
A voter registration form is simple and quick to fill out, Voter Registrar Mary Hammontree says
photo by Mitch Talley
A vintage poster at the Whitfield County Voter Registrar office highlights the importance of voting and how members of the armed forces protected that right for Americans
photo by Mitch Talley
GA Votes is an app available for smart phones that allows residents to register to vote
photo by Mitch Talley
Whitfield County Voter Registrar Mary Hammontree and her staff are eager for more local residents to be eligible to cast their ballots in the local, state, and federal elections set for next year.
They want to make it as convenient as possible to register. Along those lines, they’ll be setting up a voter registration tent across from the courthouse on the street corner outside the county’s Administration Building No. 2 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22, as Whitfield County participates with the rest of the country in celebrating National Voter Registration Day.
“People won’t even have to go inside the courthouse that day,” Ms. Hammontree said, “so that way, they don’t have to come up the stairs or do anything else that might give them an excuse not to come in to register. They can just park their car and sign up at our tent outdoors.”
Ms. Hammontree’s staff will also be registering voters at the Mack Gaston Community Center even longer that day, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. to take advantage of the many people who take part in activities there all day.
“Our office will also be staffed inside the courthouse that day, too,” Ms. Hammontree said, “so people can register there during our regular hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.”
Voters will also be able to make changes, too, such as updating their last name due to marriage or divorce or changing their address if they have moved.
The voter registration process itself is brief, basically as long as it takes the person to fill out a simple one-page, 10-block form. Registrants without a driver’s license will have to provide their complete Social Security number, while those with a driver’s license will need to give the last four digits of their Social Security number. Some people may also need to provide their alien registration number, Bureau of Indian Affairs card number, or Tribal Treaty card number.
Once people have registered to vote, they will go through a verification process to make sure they are eligible. If some information is missing or wrong, they’ll be notified by mail and given a chance to correct the mistake.
The verification process eliminates ineligible voters and has made Georgia a state where voter fraud is hard to commit, according to Hammontree.
“Everybody’s verified in the state of Georgia,” she said. “You can’t just go to the polls and throw out some kind of ID and say this is ‘so-and-so’ and then vote. You’ve got to be verified. Some states don’t even ask for ID – that’s how voter fraud occurs. You have to have ID and you have to be verified in Georgia, so there’s less likely to be voter fraud that way. The state of Georgia prides themselves the way they do it. I’m not saying voter fraud can’t happen, but it’s less likely it could happen in Georgia or any state that follows this process.”
The Voter Registration Day isn’t the only time when people can register to vote, however.
Cell phone users can download an app called “GA Votes” that allows them to register to vote, and you can also sign up online at https://registertovote.sos.ga.gov/GAOLVR/welcome.do#no-back-button.
“You can also register at any driver’s license center, DFCS, lots of other places,” Ms. Hammontree said, “but this particular day we’d like to try to get more people registered. We’ve never done anything like this before here, and I want it to be successful. I’d really like to see at least 150 people register.”
She and her staff see the voting process as an important right of Americans.
“I’ve always voted, but I never fully understood how important it was until I came to work in this office,” said Hammontree, who took over in February 2013 after the death of longtime registrar Kay Staten.
“I feel like if everybody exercised their right to vote instead of not voting and then complaining, then we might see some changes,” she said. “If they don’t vote, they don’t have a right to complain.”
Voter registration – and voting – are free.
“We have people come in our office sometimes and ask how much it costs to register to vote,” Ms. Hammontree said. “It’s free!”