PICKENS COUNTY, Ga. – Pickens County Elections are progressing smoothly at the polls today according to Elections Supervisor Julianne Roberts who reported no major issues in the day.

Speaking with FYN, Roberts said that they day has progressed smoothly at the precincts and with the central office despite having issues with COVID-19 exposures in the office. Having previously been exposed, everyone in the office tonight has had the virus, said Roberts.

This comes in spite of worries as North Georgia is continuing its 2020 elections trend with large numbers of citizens going to polls and submitting early voting ballots in this election cycle.

Pickens County Sheriff’s were also on hand today keeping voters safe. The Sheriff’s Office issued a statement to ease the public into the day saying that deputies would be on hand at polling locations.

The Sheriff’s Office said that this was more a response to news from other counties as they stated, “Many counties have experienced threats regarding elections, and while our county has not received any threats at this time, we will always err on the side of caution to provide safety for the community.”

However, with a quiet day at the precincts in the county, the smooth operations and lack of issues means that precincts are expected to close on time. Roberts said that the normal rules apply so that if any person is already in-line by 7:00 p.m., then they will be allowed to enter and vote before the poll closes. However, 7:00 p.m. is the cutoff time and anyone arriving after that will be turned away.

Roberts told FYN at 5:00 p.m. today that this was the current situation with polls expected to close on time.