State Farm Arena transforms into nation's largest voting precinct

Early voting for August 11 runoff election

Early voting began Monday morning for the August 11 runoff election.

ATLANTA - Early voting began Monday morning for the August 11 runoff election and the home of the Atlanta Hawks has transformed into the nation's largest early voting precinct.

Not only are the Hawks loaning their space, but also about 200 staff members to help with the voting process at State Farm Arena.

One hundred voting machines are being housed in the 700,000 square-foot venue with large areas for voters to practice social distancing.

Fulton County has 20 early voting locations.

The additions are in hopes of alleviating long lines and any problems with the state's new voting machines.

A newly created Fulton County Citizen's Task Force made other suggestions including a two-day turnaround for processing votes by mail-in ballot requests, tests of power grids at polling places at least 24 hours before election day, additional ballot scanners and better training for poll workers.

"We've also added a component that runs them through some drills and tests that makes sure they can process voters in a timely manner," Fulton County Elections Director Richard Barron said.