NBC News: Early voting begins in Georgia with long lines, high turnout

Early voting kicked off in Georgia on Monday with hourslong waits at some polling locations amid what election officials said was a record high turnout.

Kathleen Campbell, 31, was at her polling place, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, around 8:10 a.m. ET. It took more than 2 hours to work her way to the front of the line, she said, speaking to NBC News by phone around 11 a.m. as she was about to be allowed in to cast her ballot. …

Local election officials said there weren’t any significant issues with the state’s cumbersome voting machines Monday, but noted unusually high turnout. Democrats had been urging people to vote by mail because of the pandemic, but President Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against mail-in voting, falsely saying it’s prone to fraud.

Aunna Dennis, executive director of the voter advocacy organization Common Cause Georgia, said what happened Monday was a “math problem.”

“A lot of people voted on the first day,” and “Covid-19 precautions means each voter takes longer,” Dennis said, adding that there were also reports of machine problems and a shortage of paper ballots that could be used as backups. “That needs to change,” she said.