[ad_1]
With early voting underway this week, more than a million people have already voted in the second round of Georgia’s Senate.
Between the mail-in ballots and the first in-person votes, more than 1.12 million votes were cast in the controversial pair of Senate races that will determine the fate of upper house control. The postal ballots accounted for 481,171 of the votes and the advance in-person voting totaled 641,924.
That total represents 15 percent of the 7.7 million registered voters in Georgia, and almost the same number of votes cast at this point in the general election, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Such a high turnout is unusual for second-round elections, especially without a president on the ballot. In total, around 5 million Georgians voted in last month’s elections.
76K NEW VECTORS REGISTER BEFORE THE JANUARY RUNOFFS
In addition, nearly 76,000 new voters have registered since the presidential race, many of whom recently turned 18 or left the state.
Black voters and voters over 65 turn out in large numbers for the early vote. Black voters made up 27% of the general electorate but so far they account for 32% of early votes. Older voters made up 25% of all voters in the general election, but so far they represent 44% of voters in the second round.
LOEFFLER, PERDUE FILE SUITS TO SEPARATE THE BULLETINS FROM NEWLY REGISTERED ELECTORS
The high number of early votes in Georgia could be the result of a nationwide campaign on both sides of the aisle to highlight what is at stake – control of the upper house and possibly the fate of the Democratic agenda. It could also be a reflection of a population explosion in Georgia – 1 million new voters have made the state their home in the past four years.
A combination of new voters and an expanded mail-in vote helped President-elect Joe Biden win the Peach State, the first Democrat to do so since Bill Clinton in 1992.
Senator David Perdue, a Republican, faces Democrat Jon Ossoff. Perdue, a former Fortune 500 CEO, beat the media executive who is almost half his age in the November election by nearly 90,000 votes, but failed to secure a majority.
Under Georgia’s unusual election laws, major parties do not need to choose a candidate.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
Twenty candidates ran in the race for Senator Kelly Loeffler’s seat. Loeffler followed Democrat Reverend Raphael Warnock by nearly 344,000 votes, but shared votes with Republican-favorite Republican Doug Collins. In total, all of the Republicans in the race got about 47,800 more votes than the Democrats combined, regardless of third-party votes.
[ad_2]
Source link