Vote sign.jpg

ATLANTA — In an Election Day update just before noon, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reported few issues among the nearly 3,000 polling precincts.

Voting was set to open at 7 a.m.; however, four precincts — two in Fulton and one in Chatham counties — opened late. Subsequently, they’ll stay open past the 7 p.m. cutoff time for polls. 

Short wait times were reported throughout the state. Raffensperger said it was too early to gauge the voter turnout but said there have been consistent voting peaks throughout the morning. 

Prior to Election Day, more than 12% on the 7 million registered voters had voted either during the three weeks of in-person early voting or had submitted an absentee ballot. 

Compared to early-voting turnout in primaries four years ago, this represented a 168% increase over the the last gubernatorial primary in 2018 and a 212% jump above 2020, the last presidential primary year.

“The record early voting turnout is a testament to the security of the voting system and the hard work of our county election officials,” said Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger. “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.”

Of the more than 857,000 whose votes have been cast early, 61,744 were via returned absentee ballots; more than 483,149 Republican ballots have been cast, 368,949 Democrat ballots, and 5,303 nonpartisan ballots. 

“We’re almost back at the historical averages that we’ve had,” Raffensperger said during a new conference Tuesday. “People are going back to their preference in voting early, and we added an additional day (of early voting) with the Election Integrity Act of 2021 and then counties could have two additional days for Sunday voting. It looks like people [are] really taking advantage of that.”

Election results are expected to begin being tabulated around the state shortly after 7 p.m., with absentee ballot totals expected to be among the first counts. 

Key races on Georgia’s primary ballots include governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, U.S. Senator, and state school superintendent; the Republican and Democrat winner in each race will face in the November General Election. 

Absentee ballots must be submitted by 7 p.m. and polling places close at 7 p.m. 

To find your assigned Election Day polling place, visit the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page at https://mvp.sos.ga.gov.