Georgia county adds two voting sites ahead of crucial runoff elections amid backlash from campaigners

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Election chiefs in Georgia will add two more sites for the final week of early voting in the state's crucial Senate run-off contests.

It means there will be five voting places in Cobb County for the first two weeks of early voting and seven for the final week, as opposed to five throughout the entire period of early voting.

Cobb County officials announced the decision on Wednesday following a backlash from democracy and civil rights campaigners, who criticised the county's plans to reduce its number of polling stations by half for the runoff elections compared to the 3 November elections.

Activists said the move would restrict Black and Latino voters' ability to cast their ballots in the 5 January contests, which will decide whether Democrats or Reublicans control the Senate next year.

Cobb Couty voters can currently cast their ballots early at two locations in Marietta,  Kennesaw Austell and Powder Spring.

Local elections director Janine Eveler said she does not have the resources to run 11 voting sites, the number Cobb County had open at the 3 November elections.

“Between coronavirus, the workload, and the holidays, we have simply run out of people,” she said in a statement.

“Many workers told us they spent three weeks working 14 or 15-hour days and they will not do that again."

Ms Eveler added: "We simply don’t have time to bring in and train up more workers to staff the number of locations we had for November.”

Cobb County is the state’s third-most populous county, with more than 760,000 residents.  

President-elect Joe Biden won Cobb County by 14 percentage points, according to New York Times data.  

Mr Biden's overall win in the state of Georgia was upheld for the third time earlier this week following a recount and legal challenges by outgoing president Donald Trump.

He carried the traditionally red state by some 12,000 votes, becoming the first Democrat to win there since Bill Clinton swept to power in 1992.

Both Georgia's 3 November Senate elections failed to produce a 50 per cent majority for any candidate, meaning the contests must be re-run in January.

In the regular election, Republican incumbent David Perdue is facing a challenge from Democrat Jon Ossoff.  

In the special election, GOP appointee Kelly Loeffler is defending her seat against Democrat Rev Raphael Warnock.

If the Democrat challengers win both elections then the Senate will be split 50-50. In that scenario, vice president-elect Kamala Harris has the deciding vote in who controls the upper chamber.

If Mr Perdue and Ms Loeffler win, the Republicans will hold a slim 52-48 majority, which will ultimately make it difficult for Mr Biden to pass legislation.