Early voting has begun in Georgia and the first day smashed previous voter turnout records. Georgia voters showed up in record numbers far exceeding one-day early voting totals from the 2018 midterms.
The first day of early voting almost reached the high of the 136,739 ballots cast during the 2020 election, which was a Presidential election year, which generally garners higher voter turnout.
When adding the 11,759 absentee ballots that were received for the first day of early voting, the total number of ballots by the end of day Monday was 143,077 total votes.
In Georgia, early voting began on Monday and will continue until election day.
With high turnout numbers, this may quash concerns of voter suppression alleged by the Democrats in response to a restrictive Republican sponsored voting law, but the final demographics will not known until all the votes are counted.
This election cycle in Georgia has two high-stakes political races for Governor and Senate. The gubernatorial race is between Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams and the Senate race is between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Republican candidate Herschel Walker. Both races are highly contested and a major media focus.