About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 2020)
Thursday, September 10,20201 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Officials expect heavy absentee load County issues guidance on early voting, how to return ballots BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com All registered Georgia voters are eligible to vote by mail if they choose, and in light of the COVID- 19 pandemic, the state and county elections offices are preparing to handle larger than usual volumes of absentee ballots. Voters can request an absentee ballot by filling out an application beginning 180 days before the election, so the request process for Nov. 3 has already started. The last day for a voter to request an absen tee ballot, and the last day for the elections office to mail out absen tee ballots, is Friday, Oct. 30 by 5 p.m. Voters can request an absentee ballot online using a website set up by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office at securevotega.com. Using that website keeps the absentee ballot process entirely online for the voter. Voters can call Hall County’s elections office at 770-531-6945 or email elections@hallcounty. org to request a ballot. The county has also posted an absentee ballot application on its elections website. Hall County Elections Direc tor Lori Wurtz said the county had received more than 17,000 absentee ballot applications as of Wednesday, Sept. 9. She said she recommends voters send in their applications early and monitor the status of their application through the My Voter Page on the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office website. Wurtz said the estimated wait time between submitting an absen tee ballot application and receiving the ballot is five to seven days. The state has hired a vendor to process applications, although counties will take over toward the end of early voting, she said. Sept. 15 is the first day elections offices can send out ballots, so vot ers should not expect to receive their ballots before that date. Some voters, including those ■ Please see BALLOTS, 3A Mask up, batter up Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Tee-ball players kick dirt on the dusty North Hall Park baseball field Tuesday, Sept. 9, as rec baseball is getting underway in Hall County and Gainesville. Tee-ball players take a water break Tuesday, Sept. 9, during a practice at North Hall Park. Stephen Howard and his son were ready to get back to a sense of normalcy. Howard, a volunteer baseball coach for the Hall County Parks & Leisure fall league, said he’s comfortable with the plan laid out by the county — which includes coaches wearing protective face coverings at all times — and was excited to get his son signed up to play. “ I just think it’s important to keep them in activities, keep them busy,” Howard said. “It’s just one of those things where it was important for him to play. I asked him if he wanted to play, and he wanted to play, so that’s what we went with.” He said he hasn’t heard any complaints from other parents about the precautions being taken. Participation in fall baseball is down about 20% from last year, according to Wayne Briscoe, the youth sports athletic coordinator for the north half of Hall County. The sport is the only one being offered by Hall right now, with basketball starting later this fall. In addition to mandating masks for all coaches, Hall County has also removed the bleachers from fields to prevent spectators from getting too close to each other. The county has also removed benches from inside dugouts, placing them outside of fences instead to keep players in a more open-air environment during games. Balls will also be sani tized between every inning, according to Briscoe. He said that while the county has fielded several calls from parents curious about what precautions would be in place, everyone involved in fall baseball seems to be on the same page now with games set to start next week. “For the most part, everybody’s happy to get out there and trying to get back to some sort of a normal participation,” Bris coe said. “Being able to do something.” ■ Please see SPORTS, 3A Army soldier charged with explosive device theft ALEXANDER POPP Dawson County News A U.S. Army sergeant in Dawson County has been arrested and charged by local authori ties for allegedly stealing over a dozen explo sive devices from the Camp Merrill U.S. Army Training Facility in Lumpkin County. Sgt. Jesse Gray Phillips, 23, of Dawsonville, was arrested Thursday, Sept. 3, after inves tigators with the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office Crime Suppression Unit received an anonymous tip, leading them to find multiple illegal explo sive devices, firearms and narcotics in Phillips’ vehicle and residence. According to a statement from Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson, investigators con ducted a traffic stop on Phillips’ vehicle near his home on Stegall Place in Dawson County ■ Please see ARMY, 6A School board member’s DUI charge reduced BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com The charges against a Hall County school board member were reduced more than 11 months after the original charges were filed, according to court documents. Mark Pettitt, who was origi nally arrested in December 2018, was charged in a Sept. 13,2019, accusation with driv ing under the influence of alcohol-less safe and failure to maintain lane. The Forsyth County Solici tor’s Office filed an amended accusation Aug. 21, changing the charges to reckless driving and failure to maintain lane. The file became available earlier this month from the Hall County Clerk of Courts. According to the reckless driving charge, Pettitt was accused of driving a car “in reck less disregard for the safety of persons and property due to the alcohol he consumed prior to driving.” ■ Please see PETTITT, 6A Phillips Pettitt Hall, city parks departments taking precautions in fall rec leagues BY NATHAN BERG nberg@gainesvilletimes.com This e-edition sponsored by:
