Georgia has been the epicenter for the national conversation about who gets to vote and how those votes are counted. GPB's Rickey Bevington talks with political reporter Stephen Fowler about his new podcast on voting rights in Georgia.

RELATED: Listen to the podcast "Battleground: Ballot Box"

TRANSCRIPT:

Rickey Bevington: On a Wednesday, it's All Things Considered on Georgia Public Broadcasting, it's good to have you listening. I'm Rickey Bevington. We turn to politics now. Georgia is a battleground on two fronts: Who we vote for, and how those votes are counted. GPB is launching a new podcast series called Battleground: Ballot Box. It looks at the good, the bad, and the complicated with Georgia's election system. Joining me now is the host, GPB political reporter Stephen Fowler. Stephen, thanks for joining me.

Stephen Fowler: Thanks for having me, Rickey.

Rickey Bevington: So the June 9th primary election was a wakeup call for so many people who saw very long voting lines, particularly in non-white communities, problems with a new, very expensive voting system that was rolled out, and also shortages of poll workers. Since then, that was June, what has changed that will make November any better?

Stephen Fowler: Well, Rickey, the main thing is more training, more training and more training for those poll workers. Thousands of people have volunteered to help out as poll workers and they're getting trained. There is more tech support for problems with the voting machines that get solved quickly. And there's more procedures that state and county officials have put in place to cut down on long lines or any check-in problems. In Fulton County in particular, I'd say they are much better prepared. There’s going to be almost 90 more polling places open in November than they had in June, plus plenty of early voting sites. That includes a mega voting precinct at State Farm Arena. And a new online portal makes requesting your absentee ballot even easier. Plus, there's a rule that allows people to return those absentee ballots in a safe, secure drop box.

Rickey Bevington: So in your first episode, Stephen, you talk with Bacon County elections supervisor Ann Russell to get a sense of some of the challenges that local officials have faced because of the coronavirus. I'll point out that Bacon County is south of Savannah. It's a rural county in southeast Georgia.  How has the pandemic made things differently for a county like Bacon?

Stephen Fowler: Well, for one, she had to make extra space at her polling place to be able to spread out machines because of social distancing and to do more training for her coworkers. But the biggest change has been to absentee ballots. In 2016’s presidential election she counted less than two hundred. And here's what she encountered this June.

Ann Russell: Back in June, we counted, I think, almost thirteen hundred absentee ballots. So we've had to reinvent the wheel when it comes to our absentee ballots here in Bacon county and I know every other county has had to do that as well.

Stephen Fowler: Rickey — Rickey, that's about 20 percent of the statewide voters there. One of the biggest challenges statewide has been accommodating vote-by-mail surges while also running the in-person election part. Even now, more than 1.2 million Georgians have already requested an absentee ballot by mail for the presidential election.

Rickey Bevington: Finally, Stephen, what advice do you have for those Georgians listening who have concerns about getting their votes counted?

Stephen Fowler: It comes down to making a plan, whether you're voting on Election Day, planning to vote by mail, or early voting. If you do request an absentee ballot now, you can get it and have it returned before October. Every county also has at least one early voting location and early voting runs three weeks starting October 12th. That's another way to avoid the lines. And always check your My Voter page to ensure you know where your polling place is if you choose to vote on Election Day and to make sure your registration is up to date.

Rickey Bevington: That's GPB’s Stephen Fowler, host of the new podcast Battleground: Ballot Box. You can subscribe at GPB.org/Battleground or anywhere you get your podcasts. Stephen, I look forward to hearing more episodes. Thank you so much for your work and for joining me.

Stephen Fowler: Thank you.