Over the last five years, Mark Nisi has watched his home state of Georgia close one polling precinct after another.

Last fall, we published an article showing that 214 precincts had closed in Georgia from 2012 to 2018.

Mark works at the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

And that's a pretty significant number.

It's 8% of the state's total.

Georgia's got more counties than any other state in the country, except Texas.

Some of these places are home to just a few thousand people, like Clay County.

It's on the border with Alabama.

There were previously five precincts up until 2015, and without much controversy,

they were closed down and combined into one sole voting location for the entire county.

Hold it. So five precincts down to one?

That's right. It's a place that doesn't have much money, doesn't have much tax base,

and precinct closings are often a ready way for elected officials to save money when budget cuts come.

Watching as these precincts shut down, it mostly left Mark with questions.

We knew that these precincts had closed, but we didn't know how much it mattered.

You know, were people voting anyway or not?

Last week, Mark's reporting revealed an answer.

Tens of thousands of voters didn't show up at the polls in 2018, simply because of distance.

In some of these counties, people had been voting in volunteer firehouses that looked more like aluminum sheds by the side of the highway.

But at least voters could get to them.

I was struck by one official you talked to, I believe in Clay County, who was like, well, we can't carry you in to the voting booth.

You have to come to us.

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