Early Voting in Georgia Sets Record—Over 2.5M Residents Cast Ballots

Early voting in Georgia has broken a new record in the state, as more than 2.5 million residents have cast early in-person or absentee ballots heading into Election Day.

According to NBC News, 49% of the early voters are registered Democrats and 42% are Republicans. Additionally, 70% of early voters were 50 and older and 56% were women.

The new early voting records in Georgia come as the race between former NFL running back Herschel Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock gets closer. The midterm elections will be an indication of how much the former Republican stronghold has changed in recent years.

“The story is going to be, on the suburban margins—can Democrats get to the same level they got in 2020 to make up for losing ground in rural areas?” Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt, who helps conduct the NBC News survey told the network.

“That is the challenge. Because not all of the Biden vote in 2020 was for Biden—there was a component of that vote that was against Trump.”

In the last few days, Warnock has been appealing to those in Georgia who say they will vote for Gov. Brian Kemp but do not support Walker and could be open to backing him. Warnock is running a series of advertisements featuring testimonials from a wide variety of voters who say they cannot support the Trump-backed Republican.

Meanwhile, Walker is trying to consolidate Republicans in the Peach State calling the country’s leadership weak and denouncing pronouns in a rally last weekend.

“We’re a weak country because we’re talking about putting pronouns in our military. Pronoun? What the heck is a pronoun?” Walker said at a rally in Smyrna. “My pronoun is sick and tired of this pronoun stuff.”

Both men are hoping to capture 50% of the vote on Election Day, but if neither side claims the majority of the vote, the men will head to a Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia.

“We’ll deal with things as they come. I think we may very well get a verdict on Tuesday. We’ll see,” Warnock said.

“But the fact that people are turning out in record numbers is a great thing. I think it’s great for democracy.”

Georgia voters will also decide whether Fair Fight founder Stacey Abrams will defeat Kemp in their 2018 rematch.