Local vote count to be online

TIFTON -- This year, Tiftarea residents who want to know the outcome of Tuesday's election will wait for returns at a new location and see them in a new format.

Election returns will be posted in the courtroom at the Charles Kent Administration Building as they come in, Board of Elections Chairperson Pat Robinson said Friday.

The returns will also be available on the Internet at Tift County's Web site, www.tiftcounty.org, and at the City of Tifton's Web site, http://election.tifton.net/results, and on cable television on MediaCom Channel 95 and CityNet Channel 9.

Robinson said board members looked at methods used in Valdosta, Thomasville and several other area cities before choosing the software to be used. Donovan Atkins of CityNet, Tift County information systems specialist Braxton Driscoll and Tommy Thornton of New Image Computers all worked on the project, which will replace transparencies shown on overhead projectors.

The move from the old gymnasium behind the Kent building will allow more people to wait in comfort, she said.

"(Board member) Amos Kimbrough and I made a presentation to (County Manager) Bill Park, and he was very receptive," Robinson said. "He made the necessary contacts, and we're very thankful to him.

"I'm really excited about it, and I'm glad to be a part of the team that put this into action."

Robinson said that as of Friday afternoon, about 3,500 Tift County residents had voted absentee through the advanced voting program. There are 19,186 voters registered locally.

"I think folks really like it," she said. "People enjoy having the freedom of just being able to come in and vote whenever it's convenient for them. The lines have been somewhat long at times, but nobody has really complained."



To contact city editor Florence Rankin, call 382-4321, ext. 209.