Susan K. Williams is the new director of Polk’s Board of Elections & Registration.

She said the post was created due to more people needed in the office, work involved and the changing process for elections in Georgia.

“This is a challenging field and many don’t understand work involved in the election process,” she explained.

Williams, a native of Yorkville who now resides in Rockmart, pointed out that Secretary of State Karen Handel is “keen on everyone adhering to policy and that Georgia’s Election Division be one of the best in the country.”

She admires the way Handel has brought many departments into the 20th Century and that everyone is now on the same page with electronic voting.

“It takes about 12 months to put an election together,” she said.

The local office maintains all the voter registration applications, which are entered daily.

Most arrive through the Department of Driver Services while others are placed in person or transferred from out of county.

When people die or move from the county, their records are pulled, purged and maintained for 5 years.

If convicted of a felony, an individual loses the right to vote. Therefore, both lists must be worked.

“On June 2, 2008, you can walk into our office and vote absentee with no reason,” Williams explained.



She reminded that Georgia law prohibits campaigning within 150 feet of any building in which a polling place is located. No campaigning includes caps, shirts, signs or bumper stickers.

“Legally, you can’t park a car with a bumper sticker for a political candidate,” she added. “If someone asks you to move a car, it is because there are campaign slogans on it."

It is the same for advance voting locations and applies at all precincts on Election Day.”

July 7-11, advance voting can be completed at the West Avenue office or Goodyear Community Center, both located in Cedartown, or at the Municipal Building in downtown Rockmart.

The General Primary will be on July 15 when voters must choose to vote either Democratic or Republican. August 5 is the date set for a runoff, if needed.

Williams and her staff is responsible for training 6 to 10 poll workers for the 11 Polk precincts and determining that all equipment is tested prior to the election.

Daily reports are done to adhere to rules regarding cut off dates for registering to vote. For example, the last day to register for the Primary Election on July 15 is June 16.

All this information must be keyed so that Georgia’s election center can pull a database. This electronic file with registered voters in each precinct is used during the election.

“On election night, we have to export everything to the state,” Williams added.