More than 622,000 Georgia voters have turned in their ballots since early voting started in the swing state two days ago.
With less than three weeks left until the election, both the Harris and Trump campaigns are focused on garnering votes from swing states, including Georgia. The state elected President Joe Biden in 2020 after voting for the Republican candidate since 1996. With its 16 electoral votes, it gives either candidate a possible lead.
Georgia’s election office reported 587,210 ballots were accepted as of Wednesday. Out of the 35,741 mail-in ballots that have returned, all but 265 were accepted. Gabriel Sterling, Chief Operations Officer of Georgia’s office of Secretary of State expressed his awe at the turnout so far.
“So, we are already at 8.6% turnout. Again … massive numbers,” Sterling wrote on X.
We are approaching 590,000 early votes cast. 34,272 accepted absentees. We are at nearly 620,000 total votes cast. So we are already at 8.6% turnout. Again…massive numbers. #gapol pic.twitter.com/uec7lrnzLi
— Gabriel Sterling (@GabrielSterling) October 16, 2024
The previous record for early voting was in 2002 when 136,000 votes were cast on the first day. Tuesday alone saw more than 312,000 in-person ballots.
According to Sterling, those over half a million votes made up about 10% of the turnout in 2020. With a little more than two weeks of early voting, this year’s turnout is shaping up to be much greater than that of 2020.
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As of Thursday morning, there were already another 2,000 votes cast.
Later this month, former first lady Michelle Obama will campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris in Atlanta. Her Oct. 29 rally comes two weeks after early voting began in Georgia and three weeks after the voter registration deadline. After that there will only be three days left of early voting and a week left until Election Day.