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Like the rest of Troup County and even statewide, West Point has seen high rates of voters turning out to take advantage of the early voting. West Point’s precinct on O.G. Skinner Drive has had over 300 voters as of Wednesday. 

According to the daily election report from the Troup County Board of Elections, 329 voters have already visited the West Point polling place. That number is people from all over the county not just West Point residents or people that reside in the precinct, according to Ed Moon, the city manager. 

“I think it’s pretty high voting for early voting,” Moon said during the meeting. However, in a statement to the VT-N after the meeting, he said that the city will not have a more detailed breakdown until after election day. 

There are 1,850 active voters registered in the West Point precinct. Over 15 percent of active voters at that precinct have taken advantage of the early voting.

Back in August, the city council voted to fund seven days of early voting for the November election, costing the city $7,000 to the county for election services. 

According to an article by Tommy Murphy from the LaGrange Daily News, 16,853 early voting and absentee ballots had already been cast in Troup County by Monday, accounting for 33.8% of Troup County’s 49,843 voters.

When asked if the money was worth it by Council member Sandra Thornton during Tuesday’s work session, Moon said, “I don’t know about worth the money, but obviously people have been voting.”

West Point has historically only offered early voting for municipal elections; this year will be the first that they offer the service for a federal election. In the last municipal election, the city had around 80 voters who took advantage of the extra time. 

The other cities in Troup County contract their election services out to the county as well, according to Patrick Crews, Troup County Commission Chairman. 

West Point city council had three options for early voting: not offering it at all, paying $16,000 for three weeks of early voting or paying $7,000 for early voting for one week plus the Friday and Saturday before.