ATLANTA — The busiest week of early voting in Georgia history concluded with over 1.8 million ballots cast before election day in the U.S. Senate runoff.
The large number of voters pushed polling places to their capacity during five days of statewide early voting, resulting in waits of more than two hours in some areas. On Friday, long lines of resilient voters wrapped around libraries and government buildings into the night.
But while turnout set daily records this week, including a high of 353,000 voters on Friday, an abbreviated early voting period resulted in fewer votes than before last month’s election. There were 2.5 million early voters in the general election, when statewide early voting was held on 17 days.
On election day, officials expect strong turnout in the final race for Senate between Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.
The large number of election day voting locations Tuesday — over 2,400 across Georgia — could prevent long lines unless voters overwhelm their local precincts. Voting went smoothy last month, with 1.5 million voters on election day and a total turnout of nearly 4 million.