Early voting turnout in Georgia tops 1 million
FILE- People vote at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex on Nov. 3, 2020, in Franklin, Wis. In-person early voting begins Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, in battleground Wisconsin amid ongoing lawsuits affecting which ballots can be counted or tossed, recently ordered bans on drop boxes and restrictions on who can return ballots. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
Early voting in Georgia has surpassed 1 million two weeks ahead of the midterms, smashing records for early voter turnout.
“Congratulations, Georgia voters! We’ve reached 1 MILLION cast votes. Election officials deserve our thanks for rising to the challenge & working hard to serve our communities,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on Twitter Tuesday night.
As of late Tuesday, the secretary of state’s ballot tracker had logged 1,017,732 votes cast in Georgia’s second week of early voting, which will continue through Nov. 4.
Georgians showed up in record numbers for the first day of early voting earlier this month, exceeding the first-day turnout for the 2018 midterm elections and nearing the turnout for the 2020 presidential election year.
“Early Voting is strong because Georgia’s voter registration system is strong,” said Raffensperger (R) in a statement earlier this week.
But Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who has long focused on voter rights in the state, said Monday that voter suppression, particularly among communities of color, is still a concern even amid record turnout.
Abrams is challenging Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R). Also on the ballot in the state is the closely watched Senate race between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and GOP nominee Herschel Walker.
Georgia’s turnout contributes to more than 11 million Americans nationwide who have already cast their ballots ahead of the midterms, according to the United States Elections Project.