With roughly eight hours left for early voting, DeKalb County could hit record in-person advanced voting totals for a midterm election season, surpassing historic 2008 early voting numbers.
By Friday morning, 142,751 early voting ballots had been cast, according to election data posted on the county's website. The total includes 14,804 absentee ballots received since the first day of early voting, Oct. 15.
Ten years ago, 150,897 early ballots were cast, nearly half of them absentee ballots. DeKalb is approximately 8,100 votes away from that number.
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In 2008, early voting was held only a week before elections, between Oct. 27 and Oct. 31; much shorter than the three weeks currently allowed for early voting.
“If you look at trends in the past, that last day is one of our busiest days,” DeKalb County elections director Erica Hamilton told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone interview Thursday morning.
The gubernatorial race between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp has thrust Georgia into the national spotlight.
DeKalb has seen a few hiccups this election season with a polling place opening late this week and allegations of missing absentee ballot applications.
The state Democratic party claims there are 4,700 registered voters in DeKalb who have submitted absentee ballot applications but still have not received their ballots.
The county elections board and Secretary of State’s office have said there is no evidence of missing or lost ballot applications in the county.
“We have not found any evidence of those allegedly missing absentee ballot request forms,” county spokesman Andrew Cauthen told The AJC during a phone interview Thursday.
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