What Does the Macon-Bibb Board of Elections Do?

The five appointed people who run your vote locally — register voters, pick polling places, count the ballots, and certify the result — and how the board stays balanced between the parties.

The quick answer

The Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections is the small board that runs voting in the county. It has five members. They oversee how elections are run here: they register voters, decide where you vote, hire the staff who run Election Day, count the ballots, and certify the result — that is, sign off on the official totals.

The board is built to be balanced. Each of the two largest political parties names two members, and the fifth seat isn't filled by a party: the other four members put names forward, and the County Commission makes the appointment. Nobody elects these members — they are appointed.

The board runs the local side of your vote. It does not keep the statewide voter list and does not write the rules — those come from the State of Georgia.

What it does

• Registers voters. In Macon-Bibb, the same board that runs elections also handles voter registration locally. (Your record itself lives with the state — more on that below.)
• Runs the election. The board picks and equips your polling places, hires and trains the poll workers, and sets the schedule for advance (early) voting.
• Counts and certifies the results. After the polls close, the board canvasses the returns — checks and adds up the votes from every precinct — and then certifies them, meaning it declares the official, final totals.
• Directs the office that runs it day to day. An Elections Supervisor manages the office and Election Day with a county staff. The board sets the direction; the Mayor and Commission appoint the supervisor and fund the office (more on that below).
• Handles the paperwork of democracy. Qualifying candidates for the ballot, processing absentee ballots, and running recounts all run through this office.

What it doesn't do

This is where people often aim at the wrong office.

It runs the election — but it doesn't keep the statewide voter list. That belongs to the Georgia Secretary of State. So the official place to register and the simplest place to check your status is the state's My Voter Page. The county runs the election; the state runs the master list. (For the step-by-step on registering and voting, see PeachTracker's Elections page.)

It runs elections — but it doesn't write the election rules. The big rules — what counts as valid ID, how recounts work, the deadlines — are set statewide by the Georgia General Assembly, the State Election Board, and the Secretary of State. The county board carries those rules out; it doesn't make them.

It runs your vote — but it is not the county government. The Macon-Bibb County Commission is a separate elected body that runs county services and sets your county taxes. The Board of Elections doesn't tax, pave, or police anything. Its one job is your vote.

It is neutral — it doesn't run campaigns or pick winners by preference. The board's job is to run a fair count, not to favor a candidate or party. That is exactly why it is built with both parties at the table.

Who's on it, and how they got there

The board has five members, who are appointed, not elected, and serve two-year terms. The design keeps it balanced between the parties:

• Two members are named by the county's largest political party.
• Two members are named by the second-largest party.
• One member, the member at large, isn't named by a party. The County Commission picks this fifth member from names put forward by at least three of the other four, so the list needs support from both parties' members. If they can't agree in time, the Commission picks on its own.

The party seats are filled by each party's local committee, which names its two members every two years (in January of odd-numbered years). That 2-2-1 split is on purpose. With two Democrats and two Republicans, neither party's picks add up to a majority of the five. The law decides how the fifth seat is filled; it doesn't require the member at large to be nonpartisan (someone with no party label). The members also pick officers — a chair and a vice-chair — from among themselves, and under the board's own rules those officer jobs rotate so the same party doesn't hold a chair two years in a row.

The board was created by a 1969 local act of the Georgia General Assembly — a state law written specifically for this county. That act is what sets the five seats and the balance.

One wrinkle worth knowing: in 2023, state lawmakers updated that 1969 act to settle who picks the Elections Supervisor. Today the county's governing authority — the Mayor and Commission — appoints the supervisor. When the job opens, the board may recommend someone; the Mayor and Commission consider that name but can appoint any person they find qualified. The supervisor answers to the county manager. The board still sets policy; the supervisor runs the office.

How it touches you

Even between elections, this board shapes your vote.

Where you vote. The board decides which buildings are polling places and how precincts are drawn. When a polling place moves or combines, that's a board decision — and it changes your drive, your wait, and sometimes your turnout.

Whether your ballot counts smoothly. Enough trained poll workers, working machines, and a clean count are all the board's responsibility. The quiet, well-run election you barely notice is the board doing its job.

The official result. An election isn't final until the board certifies it. That certification — the formal sign-off on the totals — is the moment your collective vote becomes the official outcome.

Trust in the count. The bipartisan, both-parties-at-the-table design exists so the result is one people across the spectrum can accept. In a closely divided country, that balance is the point.

How to follow it — and show up

• Meetings. The board meets in public and posts its agendas and minutes ahead of time on the county's Board of Elections page. That's where the real decisions — polling places, the schedule, the budget, leadership — get made.
• Public comment. Board meetings are open, and residents can attend. If a polling-place change or a schedule question matters to you, the meeting is the place to raise it — before the vote, not after.
• The office. For anything about voting in person, the Board of Elections has a walk-in office at the Macon Mall (lower floor of the former Sears building): 3661 Eisenhower Pkwy, MB101, open Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., phone (478) 621-6622. Mailing address: 700 Poplar Street, Macon, GA 31201 (the Government Center).

As of 2026, the county's Elections Supervisor is Tom Gillon, who runs the office day to day.

Where to go next

• On PeachTracker: see what's on the ballot and key dates on the Elections page, and find your district and representatives on Districts.
• Have a quick question about voting here? Ask Mulberry — PeachTracker's local civic assistant.

Key terms

Member at large

the board's fifth seat. A party doesn't fill it: the County Commission appoints it from names the other four members put forward.

Canvass

the careful step of checking and totaling the votes from every precinct after the polls close.

Certify

the board's formal sign-off declaring the official, final results. An election isn't done until it's certified.

Advance voting

early in-person voting in the days or weeks before Election Day. The board sets the schedule.

Local act

a state law the Georgia General Assembly writes for one specific county. The 1969 local act is what created this board and set its five seats.

How we know this

This explainer draws on the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections' official pages (maconbibb.us), Georgia's election law on the duties of a county election superintendent (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-70), the Georgia Secretary of State's office, the Bibb County Republican Party's published rules (which set the two-year term for its appointees), and local reporting from Georgia Public Broadcasting, 13WMAZ, and The Macon Newsroom on the board's five-member design and the 2023 state law (Senate Bill 227) that clarified how the Elections Supervisor is chosen. The October 2026 review checked how the seats and the supervisor are filled against the text of Senate Bill 227, and the board's role in polling places, early voting and certification against its own 2026 meeting agendas.

Last reviewed October 2026. Board members and the Elections Supervisor change over time — see something out of date? Tell us.