Election 2020: Georgia Voters Are Showing Up In Record Numbers

GEORGIA – Even before voters across the state ventured out to their local polling places to cast their ballots Tuesday morning, state elections officials had announced that voters are turning out in record numbers. And by the end of the day, the turnout is expected to shatter any previous state records.

According to data compiled by the U.S. Elections Project which is being run by University of Florida Professor Michael McDonald, more than 3.9 million voters across Georgia had already cast their ballot as of Monday. Georgia remains a key state in the race for the Oval Office as polls are suggesting that the state is up for grabs when it comes to votes being cast for President Donald Trump and challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Statistics show that the number of people who have cast their ballots early across the state is 94 percent higher than in 2016, when 1.78 million voters requested absentee ballots and when 2.3 million people voted ahead of Election Day. The early turnout is nearly that of the all-time state record for votes cast in 2016, when 4.1 million residents voted in a state that helped elect Trump to office.

Voters cast their ballots early despite power being knocked out at several polling locations due to Tropical Storm Zeta, which, according to reports, caused several counties to either delay or close down early voting at locations on Thursday. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office reported that 16 counties, including three polling places in the metropolitan Atlanta area.

“All the voters who have come through and voted early that helps relieve the pressure on Tuesday,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said, according to NBC 4.

According to the U.S. Elections Project, more than 2.2 million (56.7 percent) of the early voters across Georgia are white while 1.08 million Black voters (27.6 percent) had already cast ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election.

By county, the biggest percentage of early voters came out from and the percentage of registered voters in each location.

• Fulton County: 447,266 (56.6 percent)
• Gwinnett County: 336,843 (60 percent)
• Cobb County: 317,757 (60.6 percent)
• DeKalb County: 317,096 (59.6 percent)

An NBC News report released over the weekend said that Fair Fight, a voter rights group started in 2018 by Democrat Stacey Abrams has registered more than 800,000 new voters. According to the report, 26 percent of those who voted early either consider themselves infrequent or first-time voters, which could represent in how Georgia votes in the final results, especially in the race for President. As a state, Georgia has not sent statewide support for a Democratic nominee since 1992.

“If (the Democratic Party) get many of those 800,000 or so folks to the polls, it would be game over,” Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia, said, according to the NBC News report. “Younger voters are notoriously difficult to get to show up, and efforts to get minority voters who have not participated in the past can be, too. But if (the Democrats) achieve those things at high levels, they will win.”

The report also indicated that the most pressing issue among Black voters has been the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the New York Times, Georgia has the sixth-highest number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. and the ninth-highest amount of coronavirus-related deaths in the country.