Georgians set early voting record ahead of Tuesday’s primaries

ATLANTA — Early voting ahead of next week’s Georgia primaries ended Friday with an all-time high of more than 850,000 voters either casting a ballot in person or returning an absentee ballot. In Cobb, more than 55,000 ballots were cast in early voting and another 6,000 absentee ballots were received.

The statewide totals represented a 168% increase over early voting ahead of the last gubernatorial primaries in 2018 and a 212% jump over early voting turnout for the primaries two years ago.

The record early voting showing is a testament of public trust in the process since the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed election reform legislation last year, GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Saturday.

The 2021 measure, branded by legislative Democrats as voter suppression, replaced the signature-match verification process for absentee ballots with a photo ID requirement and restricted the location of absentee ballot drop boxes.

“The incredible turnout we have seen demonstrates once and for all that Georgia’s Election Integrity Act struck a good balance between the guardrails of access and security,” Raffensperger said.

The surge in statewide early voting was mirrored in Cobb County. In all, 55,492 ballots were cast through Friday — the final day of early voting before Tuesday’s primary. That broke down to 23,990 Democrat ballots, 30,938 Republican ballots and 564 non-partisan ballots. Another 6,000 absentee ballots were received by the Cobb elections office, according to the county website.

The first day of early voting in Cobb on May 2 saw 1,995 votes cast, and the following nine days typically saw about 2,000 to 2,500 votes cast. But toward the end of last week, voting increased, with about 3,300 votes cast Friday, May 13.

About 3,800 votes were cast Monday of this past week, and each day saw more: about 4,400 Tuesday, 5,000 Wednesday, 6,000 Thursday and more than 9,000 on Friday.

Across Georgia, Republicans cast 483,149 early ballots compared to 368,949 voters who cast Democratic ballots. Independent voters cast 5,303 nonpartisan ballots.

The GOP top-of-the-ballot races have drawn the most attention this spring, with Gov. Brian Kemp facing a challenge from former U.S. Sen. David Perdue and University of Georgia football great Herschel Walker leading a field of candidates running for the U.S. Senate.

Stacey Abrams is seeking the Democratic gubernatorial nomination unopposed, while incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock has only token primary opposition.

Reports of Democrats choosing Republican primary ballots to vote against GOP candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump also may have helped swell early voting in GOP primaries.

Georgians who registered to vote by April 25 will be able to cast their primary ballots in person Tuesday on Election Day or return a previously requested absentee ballot by 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Voting precincts for Tuesday’s primary are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.