High turnout expected as Georgia early voting concludes Friday

Last chance to vote before Election Day
Gwinnett County residents cast their ballots at an early voting location in Mountain Park Activity Building in Stone Mountain on Saturday, October 22, 2022. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Gwinnett County residents cast their ballots at an early voting location in Mountain Park Activity Building in Stone Mountain on Saturday, October 22, 2022. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

Georgia voters rushed to the polls Friday for a busy final day of early voting that could drive turnout to 2.5 million voters ahead of Election Day.

Voting locations were open in every Georgia county Friday at the end of three weeks of in-person early voting.

Already, nearly 2.3 million voters have cast their ballots, either at in-person polling places or by returning absentee ballots.

The last day of early voting is always the busiest in Georgia, drawing over 200,000 voters in each of the last three general elections.

Then on Election Day, over 2,500 neighborhood voting precincts will be available across the state until polls close at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Of advance voters, over 2 million of them have shown up in person and about 205,000 have returned absentee ballots. That leaves about 48,000 absentee ballots that haven’t yet been received at election offices.

Ballot drop boxes, which are located inside in-person early voting locations, close at the the same time that early voting ends Friday evening, according to Georgia’s voting law passed last year.

Absentee ballots will be counted if they’re received at election offices by Election Day. Voters who haven’t returned their absentee ballots can still vote in person.

Through Thursday, overall early turnout was about 427,000 votes higher than in the last midterm in 2018, when total turnout reached 3.95 million voters.

Voters can find voting locations and sample ballots through the state’s My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov.

Information about the candidates is available through a voter guide published by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Atlanta Civic Circle at www.ajc.com/voter-guide.