Democrats outpace Republicans in early voting in Georgia primaries

Democrats have an edge over Republicans following the high-turnout early voting period ahead of Tuesday’s party primaries.

Compared to the 2022 primary, the number of Democratic ballots increased by 53% while Republican ballots decreased by 13%. And Democrats cast more in-person ballots on every day but one in the early voting period that ranApril 27 through Friday.

Enthusiasm for the midterms is strong.

Georgia voters rushed to the polls on the first day of early voting, shattering in-person primary turnout records. That momentum carried through the first week of advance voting, where about 214,000 ballots were cast. Before Election Day, more than 1 million ballots were cast — a 17% increase over the 2022 primary’s pre-Election Day period.

The surge reflects interest in the primaries with consequential races for governor, lieutenant governor and one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats.

But while interest is high, fewer voters are sending ballots in by mail. Voting by mail collapsed for both parties at similar rates. Democratic voters cast 59% fewer ballots by mail. The Republican mail ballot count dropped by 66%. However, in-person early voting increased by 67% for Democrats compared to 2022. Republican ballots cast early in-person dropped by 9%.

The large showing comes as Gov. Brian Kemp has scheduled a June 17 special session to deal with a voting system mess and draw new district maps after a U.S. Supreme Court decision gutted a section of the Voting Rights Act. Republicans are welcoming the opportunity to favorably draw maps that will allow them to maintain or widen their majority in Congress and the state Legislature in 2028.

Democrats are predicting that the ongoing redistricting battle that’s swept the nation and is now headed to Georgia will energize voters, especially Black voters — a core Democratic voting bloc.

Democrats made gains across several racial groups during early voting.

Ballots from Black voters, the largest group of Democratic primary voters, increased by 46% — more than 113,000 more votes than the same period in 2022. Ballots from white Democratic voters increased by 65% and ballots from Hispanic voters nearly tripled.

On the Republican side, Black voters made up just a fraction of voters, but the number of ballots increased by about 300 from 2022. Republican ballots cast by white voters fell by 56,000 — about 13%. The share of Republican voters who are Hispanic was even smaller but increased by 3% from the 2022 primary.

Robin Barber, 64, said she hasn’t cast her ballot yet. She plans to head to the polls Tuesday, saying she’s still on the fence about whether to vote for Derek Dooley in the Republican primary or pull a Democratic ticket and cast a ballot for Geoff Duncan.

She’s shying away from President Donald Trump and other MAGA Republicans, saying his influence as president is moving the country in the wrong direction.

Barber, who considers herself an independent, said she’s confident in Georgia’s voting system and the election workers but isn’t ruling out intimidation efforts that may cause voters to worry or not show up to vote in November.

“I doubt it’s going to happen here — whether it happens in Atlanta proper, that’s a whole other thing,” said Barber, of Lavonia.

She called the Supreme Court ruling a step in the wrong direction after all the progress made during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. “I feel like there’s a lot of racism behind these map changes, and it’s sad. It’s very sad that we’ve stepped backward,” she said.

The last day to vote in the midterm primaries and the nonpartisan judicial races is Tuesday.