The Glynn County Board of Elections and Registration voted in a special-called meeting Thursday to borrow enough voting machines to meet the state mandate of one machine for every 250 registered voters.
The decision will save county taxpayers $183,000, election officials said.
Elections Supervisor Chris Channell will drive to Atlanta next week to pick up the 16 machines loaned to the county by the state.
The General Assembly passed the voting machine requirement as part of sweeping elections changes after the 2020 elections. Voters in some Georgia counties waited in long lines for hours to cast a vote in the presidential election.
But Glynn County did not experience the problems with long waits that counties in metro Atlanta had. The requirement is unnecessary here because a large number of registered voters cast their ballots in early voting.
Local elections officials will work the the county’s elected officials in the General Assembly to pass a law that will take early voting into consideration for the number of voting machines needed.
Elections officials also approved a call for a special election for voters to consider a Special Local Option Sales Tax collected for six years.
Glynn County, the city of Brunswick, the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission, Jekyll Island Authority, Brunswick-Glynn Economic Development Authority and Glynn County Airport Commission would each get a cut of the proposed tax that could generate between $130 million to $170 million.
