Fayette County early voting: ballots sealed when cast, counted after polls close, and traceable online

If you’ve heard the rumor going around nationally that early votes get thrown out or dumped, the answer in Fayette County is simpler than the noise suggests: an early ballot cast here is sealed the moment it is cast, held under seal in Fayetteville, counted when the polls close, and traceable by the voter who cast it.

The University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public examined related rumors in an October 13, 2026 roundup, focusing on voting-machine vulnerabilities and a California incident involving 12 discarded ballots; it did not find evidence in those specific cases to support claims of widespread ballot destruction or fraud.

And here in Fayette County, early voting is already visible in ways anyone can watch: the public nightly count logged 3,239 early in-person voters on October 13 and 3,134 on October 14, 2026.

Where you vote early

Early voting in Fayette County runs October 13 through October 30, 2026, ahead of the November 3, 2026 general and special election, and any county voter can cast an early ballot at any of the four locations, no matter which precinct they are assigned to on Election Day.

The four sites are:

• Fayette Elections Office — 175 Johnson Avenue, Fayetteville
• Fayette County Library — 1821 Heritage Parkway, Fayetteville
• M.T. Allen Memorial Library — 201 Willowbend Road, Peachtree City
• Tyrone Community Room — 881 Senoia Road, Tyrone

Sites are open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on scheduled weekdays and Saturdays, with Sunday voting on October 25, 2026 from noon to 4 p.m..

If you vote by mail, the drop box for returning your absentee ballot is at the Fayette County Elections Office, 175 Johnson Avenue, Fayetteville. It is available during advance-voting hours and is monitored.

When you cast it

When you vote in person, your completed paper ballot goes straight into a ballot scanner. The scanner detects and tabulates your selections directly from the paper ballot — the vote is captured from the ballot itself, not left loose to be handled later.

From under seal to the count

Early in-person votes are not released or reported during the early-voting period. The paper ballots and the memory cards used to record scanner totals are secured until the polls close on Election Day. Georgia paper ballots and voting equipment are sealed and transported under a documented chain of custody — a written record of handling — and stored securely until tabulation.

In Fayette County, the processing, tabulation, computation, and canvassing all happen in one fixed place you can point to on a map: the Fayette County Elections and Voter Registration Office at 175 Johnson Avenue, Fayetteville, run by Brieanna Garrett, the director of the Elections Office.

On Election Day, Fayette County officials verify the seals on the memory cards and transfer the totals for tabulation. Advance-voting results must be tabulated and reported within one hour after the polls close at 7 p.m.. Every early in-person ballot already captured on those cards runs through that same tabulation, so your early vote lands in the official election-night results alongside an Election Day vote.

One detail that can confuse a voter later: Fayette County records advance in-person voting as an “Absentee Ballot” in your participation history, while an Election Day vote is recorded as “Regular”. That label is bookkeeping, not a sign your ballot was set aside.

How to check your ballot

You do not have to take anyone’s word for any of this. You can confirm your own ballot was recorded on the Georgia My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov by signing in with your name, county, and date of birth. The page shows your recorded participation — advance in-person voting appears as an “Absentee Ballot” in your history — along with the status of any mailed absentee ballot or provisional ballot.

The paper ballot itself is sealed and stored for up to two years after the count for any future audit. In Fayette County, an early ballot is not discarded — it is kept, and your record of it is a login away at mvp.sos.ga.gov.