Early Voting Starts For Presidential Primary, Unincorporated Sunday Sales

Early voting started Monday on the March 6 presidential primary, but some voters may not realize the ballot has another issue that Georgians care deeply about: Sunday sales.

The alcohol vote would allow booze to be sold on Sundays in unincorporated DeKalb County between 12:30 and 11:30 p.m.

Every registered voter in DeKalb can vote on unincorporated Sunday sales, even if they live in Decatur or Avondale Estates, according to the DeKalb County Office of Elections. Those cities approved Sunday sales back in November.

In the Republican presidential primary, voters will choose from nine candidates: Michelle Bachman, Newt Gingrich, John Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Buddy Roemer, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Some of the candidates have dropped out of the race but did so too late to be removed from the Gerogia ballot.

In the Democratic presidential primary there's only one candidate, President Barack Obama.

The DeKalb County Office of Elections says that through Friday, March 2, you can cast early votes at two places:

• DeKalb County Voter Registration and Elections Office. 4380 Memorial Drive, Suite 300, Decatur 30032.

• Tucker Recreation Center. 4898 LaVista Road, Tucker 30084.

Both places are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday and also on Saturdays, Feb. 18 and 25. They'll be closed Feb. 20, President's Day.

Starting Feb. 27 through March 2, these four other locations will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday:

• Downtown Decatur. Clark Harrison Building, 330 W. Ponce de Leon Ave., Room A, Decatur, GA 30030.

• South DeKalb. Community Achievement Center Inc., 4522 Flat Shoals Parkway, Decatur 30034.

• North DeKalb. Chamblee City Hall, 5468 Peachtree Road, Chamblee 30341.

• East DeKalb. New Bethel AME Church, 8350 Rockbridge Road, Lithonia  30058.

The county elections office also has a new accessible poll for the disabled and senior citizens at the main office at 4380 Memorial Drive.

To see sample Democratic and Republican ballots, go to the county elections department website.