The Board of Elections of Chatham County functions as the superintendent of elections and conducts primaries and elections in accordance with State law. The Board performs all services and functions necessary to support the election process. The Board establishes boundaries for voting precincts, secures facilities to serve as polling locations for these precincts, recruits, selects, hires, trains, and assigns personnel to serve as poll officials. The board also conducts qualification for candidates, develops ballots for elections, acquires, maintains, prepares, and delivers equipment used to conduct elections, publicizes notices as required by law, and maintains elections records.
The Board of Elections holds its regular monthly meeting on the second Monday of every month at 3:30pm. These meetings are open to the public.
The duties of the Chatham County Board of Registrars are to register voters properly, update the county voter files daily, conduct absentee mail-out voting, absentee early voting, issue voter photo ID and operate satellite early voting sites. The Senior Judge of Superior Court of Chatham County appoints the Board of Registrars from a list of ten names submitted by the Grand Jury. The term length is four years.
The Board of Registrars holds its meetings once a month on the fourth Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. All meetings are open to the public.
The Chatham County Voter Registration Objectives include:
- Maintaining accurate master lists and preparing electors’ lists before elections
- Notifying electors of polling places when the county is reapportioned or a change is made in polling place
- Performing purges (felons and deceased)
- Voter identification
- Mailing absentee ballots
- Verifying petitions
- Conducting high school and neighborhood registration
Top responsibilities:
- Registration of voters
- Maintaining the list of registered voters
- Issuing absentee ballots
- Disseminating information to public