Camden County finalizes three-week early-voting schedule for March 18 special election; reorganization postponed

The Camden County Board of Western Registration adopted a three-week early-voting schedule and set staff training dates Tuesday as it prepared for a March 18 special election tied to a proposed SPLOST project. The board also voted to postpone reorganization of the 2025–2026 elections board until its February meeting.

Miss Shannon, the county election supervisor, told the board, “We have a March 18th election. And what we are proposing, we, obviously, we have to have 3 weeks of advance voting.” She said the county will offer early voting at three locations — the annex, Woodbine and a week at the St. Marys Welcome Center — and that hours at all three sites will generally be 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays, with required Saturday hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Shannon said the first Saturday of advance voting will be only at the annex and the second Saturday will be at all three locations.

The special election will include a SPLOST question described by staff as an $85,000,000 project. Shannon said the cities participating in the SPLOST — St. Marys, Woodbine and Kingsland — are involved in planning and that the county had sent invoices to cities for costs tied to December runoff elections. “I go back and bill them for my ballot paper, my enterprise rental trucks, my time, my staff, my poll workers,” she said, and later noted she expected about $22,000 billed to the cities to be returned to the office budget.

Staff described the election-production timeline the board must meet. Shannon said the office needs to submit an election project to the state before officials can begin logic-and-accuracy testing. That testing is planned to start the week after next; the office must run a public ad five days before testing. The deadline to publish the advance-voting notice for the March 18 special election was identified as Monday, Feb. 10; the last day to register to vote for that election is Tuesday, Feb. 18; the first day to issue absentee ballots is Monday, Feb. 24; and the last day to accept absentee ballot applications is March 7.

Board staff described staffing and training plans: three training sessions are scheduled in mid-February (Feb. 11, Feb. 12 and Feb. 13) and the office has scheduled roughly 63–65 poll workers for election day, with opportunities for those workers to serve during early voting. “For this March election . . . we have 63, 65, poll workers scheduled for this election to work on election day,” an elections staff member said. The office also reported outreach to Camden County High School to continue its STEP student training; staff said about 25 students are eligible this semester.

The office will host the Region 14 meeting of county election officials on Feb. 5 and said representatives from Dominion, the Secretary of State’s office and other vendors are expected. Shannon also reminded the board of the state election officials’ professional conference in Savannah Aug. 10–13 and encouraged new board members to attend.

Votes at a glance: The board approved two routine actions during the meeting: approval of the Nov. 8 and Dec. 6, 2024 special-call minutes (approved as written; tally not specified) and a motion to postpone the 2025–2026 board reorganization until the February meeting (motion moved and seconded; voice vote, outcome: motion carries).

The meeting also included a brief public comment in which a resident raised a calendar question about municipal election scheduling for Woodbine; staff said the omission on the meeting calendar was an oversight and that the office will update the schedule.

Why this matters: The schedule and staffing choices set now determine how voters will access the March 18 special election, how costs will be allocated among the county and participating cities, and whether the office meets state deadlines for testing and absentee ballots. The board’s decision to postpone internal reorganization keeps current leadership in place through February while appointments and applications for an open district seat are resolved.

Looking ahead: Staff said they will publish the early-voting schedule and run the required legal notices in the local paper and online, proceed with logic-and-accuracy testing once the state project is accepted, and continue coordination with the cities on billing and SPLOST messaging.