Georgia officials announced on Tuesday (October 15) that early voting for the U.S. presidential election scheduled for November 5th this year has commenced, with record-high voter turnout. Georgia is considered a critical battleground state in determining whether the Republican candidate, former President Trump, or the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, will take office in the White House.
According to reports from Reuters, Gabriel Sterling, the Chief Operating Officer of the Secretary of State’s office in Georgia, stated that as of 4 p.m. Eastern Time (8 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time), at least 252,000 voters had cast their ballots at early polling locations. This number nearly doubled compared to the 136,000 participants on the first day of early voting in the 2020 election. Sterling, the second-highest election official in Georgia, expressed on social media, “Amazing voter turnout.”
American voters are increasingly showing a preference for early voting, whether in person or by mail. Data from the University of Florida’s Election Lab revealed that in 2020, nearly one-seventh of voters cast their ballots before Election Day. However, in that year, many Republicans opposed significantly expanding mail-in voting, citing concerns about its security compared to in-person voting.
Some Republicans continue to advocate for voters to only cast their ballots in person on Election Day, but there are also Republican officials encouraging supporters to participate in early voting.
The Election Lab at the University of Florida reported that 5.5 million Americans nationwide have already voted during this election season. In comparison, by this time during the 2020 election, 27 million people had voted, as voters sought to avoid crowded polling stations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like some other states, Georgia has tightened its absentee voting laws since then, requiring voters who wish to submit absentee ballots to provide identification and imposing limits on the locations where they can deposit their ballots.
Georgia is one of seven fiercely contested swing states expected to play a decisive role in the upcoming November election.