Politics

Georgia’s early voting surges past the halfway mark of the state’s 2020 turnout

More than 2.5 million voters have cast ballots
Voters line up before the polls open at the Joan P. Garner Library in Atlanta on the first day of the state's early voting period. As of Friday, 2.5 million Georgians had cast ballots during early voting, with a week left to go. (John Spink/AJC)
Voters line up before the polls open at the Joan P. Garner Library in Atlanta on the first day of the state's early voting period. As of Friday, 2.5 million Georgians had cast ballots during early voting, with a week left to go. (John Spink/AJC)
By and
Oct 25, 2024

As of Friday afternoon, the number of ballots cast before Election Day in Georgia has surpassed 50% of all ballots cast in the 2020 election.

Nearly 5 million Georgians voted for president in 2020. As of Friday, more than 2.5 million have already voted. The state’s early voting period ends Nov. 1.

This year’s turnout has largely been supported by early in-person voters rather than mail-in ballots. Voting by mail dominated the 2020 election.

This year’s massive turnout for early voting continues a trend away from casting ballots on Election Day. Detailed data lags by a day, but an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of voter participation through Thursday shows that 3 out of every 4 voters who have already cast a ballot this year voted early in 2020 as well.

Out of all registered voters in the state, 30% have cast a ballot in this year’s presidential election. At this point in 2020, 35% of voters had voted, but there are reasons why. Early, in-person voting started one day earlier in 2020, accounting for about 136,000 votes, and there are fewer drop boxes available to collect absentee ballots due to a voting law passed in 2021.

“Politics has become so compelling that walking around with your vote is almost like a burden,” said Audrey Haynes, a political scientist at the University of Georgia. She said that the strong early voting turnout reflects a lot of motivation but that it’s too soon to tell who will benefit from that motivation.