One Week Before Election Day, Georgians On Verge of Casting 3 Million Votes
Georgia voters have until Friday to cast an in-person early vote. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3 and absentee ballots are due back by 7 p.m. on Election Night.
More than 169,000 voters cast in-person ballots in Georgia on Monday, surpassing any of the previous 13 days of early voting this fall.
The record in-person total over the past two weeks, combined with more than a million absentee ballots submitted by voters means Georgia is all but certain to cross the three million vote threshold on Tuesday.
The current count as of 8 p.m. Monday night was 2,974,818.
But even with the overwhelming response to early voting and absentee by mail voting, the heaviest traffic at polling sites is still expected in the final four days of early voting and on Election Day.
“Now, as we head into that final week of early voting, we expect even more higher turnout than we’ve seen so far,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during a press conference at the Georgia Capitol on Monday. “With that, there may be lines. Expect lines. Long lines.”
Early in-person voting ends Friday.
Thousands Of Absentee Ballots Still Out
It’s not often that Raffensperger, a Republican, and Democrat Stacey Abrams deliver the same message on the same day.
But with a significant percentage of the absentee ballots yet to be returned, Monday was one of those days.
“If you are one of those 640,000 voters who have an absentee ballot, it’s sitting on your kitchen table, please, if you haven’t returned it, do it this week,” said Raffensperger. “Now’s the time.”
Raffensperger says the longer it takes for ballots to come back in, the longer it will take for counties to produce full election results.
But that’s not the only reason why it’s helpful to return absentee ballots quickly.
As Abrams pointed out during a video press conference Monday afternoon, voters want to leave enough time to try and fix any issues that may arise with a mail-in ballot, such as a mismatched signature.
“Go ahead and turn it in, don’t wait until last call on Nov. 3, get those ballots in because if there is a mistake, the earlier the mistake is caught, the longer you have to correct it,” said Abrams.
Voters can still return their absentee ballots by mail. But with just a week to go before Election Day, officials are urging voters to use an absentee ballot drop box to avoid any delays.
Absentee ballots must be received by counties by 7 p.m. on Election Night.
For those still waiting to actually receive their absentee ballot, there’s always an option to cancel their ballot request with staff at an early voting site or at their precinct on Election Day and vote in person.
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