‘Just ... WOW!’ More than 500K ballots cast in U.S. Senate runoff

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - More than 7% of all of Georgia’s registered voters have cast ballots in the state’s nationally-watched Senate runoff between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and UGA football legend Herschel Walker.

As of Tuesday morning, 503,792 Georgians have cast ballots, either through absentee voting or early voting, which began in some counties over the weekend and launched statewide on Monday. The data comes from the Georgia Secretary of State’s data hub for the Dec. 6 runoff.

Early Tuesday afternoon, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said, “Voters broke the all-time daily turnout record for in-person early voting on Monday, November 28. As of Tuesday morning, 468,000 Georgians have cast their in-person ballot for the December 6 runoff, with an astounding 301,545 casting their vote on Monday.

“Monday’s total is well above previous records of 233,252 voters processed on the final day of early voting in the 2018 general election, and 252,715 voting on the highest day of early voting in 2016,” Raffensperger added.

Raffensperger added the data “shows that claims of voter suppression in Georgia are conspiracy theories no more valid than Bigfoot.”

According to the secretary of state, Georgia’s active voter list stands at 7,006,777.

We already have total turnout of over 500k so far, just over 7% of active voters. Verifying details of the data now. Still have 4 days of early voting. Check @GaSecofState Raffensperger's https://t.co/yEAIB5aOOS for details on where and when you can vote. #gapol #PlanYourVote pic.twitter.com/HPIG0nxVc7
— Gabriel Sterling (@GabrielSterling) November 29, 2022

In terms of early voting, the metro Atlanta counties of Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett and Cobb are leading all other Georgia counties.

Raffensperger acknowledged long voting lines have been reported in some metro areas.

“However, many metro area polling locations experienced little to no wait times,” Raffensperger said. “Richmond, Gwinnett, Fulton, and Cobb are among the counties publishing wait times, and we encourage voters to check before going to the polls.

The last day for early voting is Friday, December 2.

Just...WOW! GA voters, facilitated through the hard work of county election & poll workers, have shattered the old Early Vote turnout, with 300,438 Georgians casting their votes today. They blew up the old record of 233k votes in a day. Way to go voters & election workers. #gapol pic.twitter.com/rYbmpjAs43
— Gabriel Sterling (@GabrielSterling) November 29, 2022

Georgia’s Senate runoff has huge implications for both next year and the 2024 presidential election year. If Walker wins, the Senate will remain split at 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, continuing to cast tie-breaking voters. If Warnock wins, Senate Democrats will have a 51-seat majority.

In 2024, Democrats are defending 21 incumbents and two independents who caucus with them, while the GOP is defending only 10 seats.

Early voting runs through Dec. 2.

Here’s a list of the dates and times for several metro Atlanta and north Georgia counties: