Over 1 million voters have already cast their midterm ballots in Georgia this year as the purple state is one week into its early voting period.
Compared with the 2022 midterm elections, the Peach State has seen a 12% increase in ballots cast in the 2026 elections, according to data released by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office. Georgia voters will elect a new governor this year and cast ballots in the state’s Senate race between incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA).
“We continue to break records each day of early voting,” Raffensperger said in a statement.
The vote totals, as of the time of publication, show that 14.3% of active voters in the state have turned out to cast in-person early ballots or absentee ballots since early voting began in the state on Oct. 13. Of the voters reported so far, 54.9% of them have been female, while 44.9% have been male. Also, the largest turnout has been among voters ages 65 to 69, with over 140,000 ballots cast, while voters ages 25 to 29 have seen just over 30,000 voters turn out to cast ballots so far.
Raffensperger called the record voting numbers “evidence that Georgians trust our election process.”
Georgia has been at the center of the election integrity debate since President Donald Trump claimed he won the state in 2020, despite losing to then-President-elect Joe Biden. Republican state election officials have sparred with Democrats and Raffensperger, a Republican, over their views on the state’s election system for the past several years.
“The strong turnout reflects the work our 159 county election officials do to make our elections free, fair, and fast,” Raffensperger said.
The state also saw a record early voter turnout in its primary elections this year.
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In addition to the closely-watched Senate race between Ossoff and Collins, Georgians will vote for a new governor for the first time in years, choosing between Republican Rick Jackson and Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms to replace the popular outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA).
Cook Political Report lists Georgia’s Senate race as “likely Democratic,” and the gubernatorial race as a toss-up.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
