Georgians set early voting record ahead of Tuesday primaries
Metro Creative
By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Early voting ahead of Tuesday’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.
Those 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 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.
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 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 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.
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