Early voting for Georgia’s June 9 primary ends today as turnout crosses 1.1M

Georgia voters headed to the polls Friday for a busy last day of early voting before Tuesday’s primary election day.

Voters have faced lines at some locations as election officials space them 6 feet apart and limit the number of people allowed inside at a time. Poll workers are also taking time to wipe down touchscreens.

Over 1.1 million voters have already cast their ballots in the primary, including 262,000 in-person voters so far. Another 847,000 people have returned absentee ballots, a record number of remote voters during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Though we encourage anyone who has requested an absentee ballot to return it by mail or submit it in a dropbox, we look forward to providing safe in-person voting on election day as well,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Turnout has steadily climbed this week, reaching a high of 38,000 in-person voters Thursday. The final day of early voting usually brings out the most voters.

While in-person early voting ends today, absentee ballots can still be counted if they’re received by the time polls close Tuesday. About 753,000 voters who requested absentee ballots hadn’t returned them through Thursday.

Absentee ballots can be deposited in drop boxes any time before 7 p.m. Tuesday. Absentee ballots returned by mail will only be counted if they're received by election offices by Tuesday.