Georgia 2026 primaries: Officials encourage preparing ahead as voters deal with lengthy ballots

In the first week of early voting in Georgia's midterm primaries, officials say some voters are showing up to the polls only to turn around without casting their ballot.

Now, election officials are sharing how to make the process a lot easier before you even walk in the door.

In Fulton County, Georgia's most populous county, 12,244 voters have cast their ballots in the first week of early voting. Across the state, more than 157,000 Georgians have voted as of Friday morning, data from the Secretary of State's office showed.

Fulton County Voter Education and Outreach Manager LaShandra Little told CBS News Atlanta she has fielded questions about the length of this year's lengthy primary ballot, which includes several crowded local and state races.

"Some of the things we hear are: 'Who are some of these people and what are these questions that are on here?'" said Little, who said the confusion has caused some people to turn around because they did not feel prepared to cast a ballot.

"We've seen some voters get to the precinct, and then they turn around and say, 'You know what, I'm going to come back,' because they see the ballot is much longer than what they anticipated, and so they want to make sure they are able to go and do their research before they come back and vote," she said.

To streamline the process, Little is encouraging voters to study their sample ballot, which can be found on the My Voter Page platform, before heading out to the polls.

She suggests printing out the document and filling it out as you would if you were in the booth.

"What people don't oftentimes realize is that you can bring that piece of paper with you to the polls to make sure you are voting on the right people, because sometimes people want to get in and they want to use their phones, and so you can't use your phone at the booth, but you can print out your sample ballot with all your choices and bring that with you to the polls," she said.

Early voting in the primary continues through May 15. The general primary election takes place on May 19.

If you are registered to vote, you can vote at any early voting location in your county. You can find a list of early voting locations on the Secretary of State's website. The polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays with some weekend hours as well.  

Georgia residents who wish to vote early must bring a valid photo ID, such as a driver's license or passport, to the polling place.