After voting in Georgia two days earlier, half a million people had already voted, they said the data from the state election office.
As of late Wednesday, 259,887 primary ballots had been cast, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. In total, more than 572,000 advanced votes have been cast according to the data.
People line up to vote at a polling station, a day after Georgians opened early voting in the war zone, in Atlanta, Oct. 16, 2024.
Megan Varner/Reuters
Gabriel Sterling, Director of Operations for the Georgia Secretary of State, stated that a A statement about X that the first votes cast on Wednesday set a record for the second day.
“So with today’s remaining and absentee ballots we could get close to 600,000 votes cast in Georgia. We’re still on pace for records and we’re grateful to our county election workers and our voters,” he said.
The day before, 312,206 people cast early ballots, beating the 136,000 votes cast on the first day of early voting in 2002, according to state election data.
A sign stands outside a polling place, one day after the state of Georgia opened early voting, in Atlanta, Oct. 16, 2024.
Megan Varner/Reuters
Sterling said the 500,000 votes cast that day represented 10% of the turnout for the 2020 election.
As of Wednesday night, 33,359 absentee ballots had been returned and 33,150 of those ballots had been accepted, according to the Secretary of State.
Voters visit a polling place, a day after Georgians opened early voting in the war zone, in Atlanta, Oct. 16, 2024.
Megan Varner/Reuters
Georgia is seen as a crucial swing state for the presidential race, with both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris actively campaigning through the state’s districts.
Voting rights advocates have encouraged voters to choose the advanced voting option concern about the new rules Including one that makes it difficult to cast a provisional ballot on Election Day if the voter is sent to the wrong polling place. Georgia voters can choose any advanced election polling place in their county, according to state law.
Early voting in Georgia will be extended until November 1st.
