VALDOSTA – Two is more than one.

With that in mind, having only one competitive primary in 2020 compared to two in 2016 could understandably lead to assumptions that this year would contain lowered voter participation. 

Those assumptions are incorrect so far.

As first week of early voting concluded, 974 Lowndes County residents cast ballots in the presidential primaries from Monday, March 2, to Friday, March 6. That number represented a 40% increase from the 693 votes from first week of the 2016 presidential primaries.

Trey Hood, professor of political science at the University of Georgia, warned against looking heavily into early voting trends.

“I’ve learned never to read too much into what’s going on with early voting in terms of the election as a whole,” he said.

Specializing in Southern politics and elections sciences, Hood noted the increase could be explained by more residents using early voting (which would lead to lower turnout on Election Day, March 24) or a more energized Democratic electorate.

The increase did not surprise the Georgia Secretary of State’s office as it expected higher turnout in this election, said Walter Jones, director of communications for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

He cited Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s points about state population growth and automatic registration, attaining or renewing a driver’s license or changing an address. Jones added that additional interest in the election this year plus the new voting machines could contribute to increased turnout as well.

Jones added that as of Monday evening, early voting results showed about 100,000 Democrats and nearly 52,000 Republicans have cast ballots already statewide. 

With people diagnosed with COVID-19 in North Georgia, an uptick in early voting amid concerns about the disease generally referred to as coronavirus, might be counterintuitive but Hood does not see it slowing voters from getting to the polls.

“At this date right now, I don’t think it’s keeping anyone from going to go vote,” he said. 

Deb Cox, supervisor for the Lowndes County Board of Elections, said no voters have expressed concerns over or inquired about COVID-19 yet, though one resident’s behavior could have stemmed from concern about the virus.

“She walked out of the room and ran and hit the hand sanitizer and rubbed it all over her ID and her hands frantically,” Cox said.

Despite no reports of COVID-19 in South Georgia, the election board still has taken added hygiene measures to be safe.

“We’re taking extra precautions. We’re wiping down the machines down every day with alcohol wipes,” Cox said.

Raffensperger’s office has been in regular contact with local elections officials statewide and suggested that locations clean the voting machine screens with a cloth and isopropyl alcohol and avoid bleach, Jones said.

In regard to COVID-19 affecting voter turnout statewide, Jones mentioned that early voting and absentee ballots can be options for residents concerned about the illness.

“If you yourself don’t want to go breathing around other people, you can vote absentee,” Jones said.

Offering voting options that do not involve human contact would be beneficial in case the illness spreads throughout Georgia, but in the mean time, that is not the case.

“If it became much more widespread and prevalent and school systems were shutting down and people were told not to go to work, well that might be a different situation,” Hood said. “We’re not there. Hopefully we won’t get there.”

Early voting continues 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., March 10-13, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., March 14, and 7 a.m.-7 p.m., March 16-20, according to a statement from the board of elections.

Election Day for the presidential primary will be held March 24.