Early voting
• When: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday
• Where: Forsyth County Administration Building, 100 E. Main St., Suite 200, Cumming
• Note: Oct. 4 is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 2 general election
• Online: forsythco.com, click the election tab on left
Voter ID
• Voters must provide one of the six acceptable forms of photo identification: Georgia driver’s license; valid ID card by any state or U.S. with photo; U.S. passport; government employee photo ID; U.S. military ID card with photo; tribal ID card with photo.
Forsyth County Republicans have a new home.
In front of a crowd of candidates, elected officials and fellow party members, Ethan Underwood cut the ribbon for the party’s campaign headquarters at 316 W. Main St. in Cumming.
“We’re looking forward to a great month,” said Underwood, chairman of the Forsyth County Republican Party.
“The Obama justice department is sitting around and waiting to draw all our state House and state Senate and our congressional lines, so it’s vital we get all our folks together.”
The headquarters will remain open through the Nov. 2 election, Underwood said, or until December if there is a runoff election.
While Forsyth was recently named the most conservative county in the state by conservative Web site The Daily Caller, this is only the second time the Republican Party has opened a headquarters during an election.
“We got a headquarters for the [Sen. John] McCain campaign for the election two years ago, and we found it was so helpful as an organizing place to make phone calls, to meet and set people up with signs and just conduct all the central planning for a campaign,” Underwood said.
The headquarters will be manned by volunteers from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5-7 p.m. daily. Two days a week, a staffer from the Georgia Republican Party will run the office from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
While signs for gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal and U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson are among those posted at the headquarters, Underwood said the local office will focus on the lesser-known candidates.
“Really, the harder ones are the other constitutional offices,” he said. “They are just as important. In fact, sometimes they have a more direct role and impact on citizens’ lives.
“But a lot of folks don’t understand what the labor commissioner does, or what the insurance and fire safety commissioner does, so that’s something we’re certainly going to be providing information for.”
Early voting, held in the Forsyth County Administration Building in downtown Cumming, runs through Oct. 29.
Advanced voting, which expands to four additional locations, runs from Oct. 25-29.
Forsyth voters will have a say in as many as 27 races, from governor to District 1 county commissioner. The ballot also features five constitutional amendments and one proposed statewide referendum.
“We’re going to get folks energized and get contact information and just run a campaign ... and [we’re] reminding people to get the folks out to vote,” Underwood said.
