In-person early voting has passed a recent record in Georgia with one day left, as 2,294,275 Georgians have voted as of Thursday afternoon, the Secretary of State said. In 2022, a total of 2,289,951 people had voted early in-person, the secretary's office said. Overall, this year's numbers, including absentee-by-mail ballots, are on pace with overall 2022 turnout.
President Donald Trump also rallied in the Peach State over the weekend to support Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson and U.S. Senate candidate Mike Collins. The Secretary of State's office added that in addition to the number of early in-person votes, 108,251 absentee ballots have been accepted on Thursday as of 1:35 p.m.
ET update, the state has accepted 2,359,330 early in-person votes, according to the state's election data hub interactive chart. So far, Fulton County has the highest number of ballots accepted with 285,482. Cobb and DeKalb Counties had the second-highest number of ballots accepted.
Shapiro, a professor of political science at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, told Newsweek on Thursday when asked about the early voting numbers, "This is more welcome news for the Democrats than Republicans in that the statistical models that have been run show a big edge in this vote is for Democratic candidates." Shapiro continued: "This is evidently spurred by Democrats' greater enthusiasm to go out and vote against Trump's Republican party in holding the Republicans accountable for the poor performance of the Trump administration. This may be epitomized by the crowds and enthusiasm that former President Barack Obama has found and spurred on at the rallies he has been attending, as he has campaigned as well for the candidates for governor and the Senate there." Early voting in the state continues on Friday and Election Day voting locations are open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on November 3. Midterm elections are commonly viewed as a test of the political environment facing the party in power, and the president's party has historically lost seats during them.
Trump won Georgia, a swing state, during the 2024 presidential election versus Harris by roughly 2 percent. Former President Joe Biden won the state in 2020 versus Trump by less than one percent. Trump's overall approval rating and ranking on specific policy issues like the economy, immigration, jobs and the ongoing war in Iran have recently slipped as households across America are consistently flagging affordability concerns.
The polling lows come as Trump has crisscrossed the country in the lead-up to November 3 to rally for potentially vulnerable GOP candidates, including previous stops in Georgia. Democrats are keen on flipping the governor's mansion in the state as outgoing Republican Brian Kemp is term-limited. Both Obama and Harris have visited the state to throw their support behind Ossoff as well, as polling shows him leading.
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