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What happened to ‘Jim Crow of the 21st Century’? Georgia sees RECORD turnout on the first day of early voting for midterms – despite Biden, Stacy Abrams and Democrats warning new law would spark widespread suppression
- A record number of Georgians turned out to vote early in the midterm elections
- From 2018 to 2022, the number of first-day early voters rose by 85 percent
- Comes after Democrats claimed new election laws in Georgia were suppressive
- Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said in March 2021 the laws were ‘racist’ and ‘a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie’
- Nearly 4.5 million Americans have cast early ballots so far ahead of Election Day
Georgia saw a record turnout in early voting in a midterm election with 434,567 people casting their ballots since Monday after leftists claimed that a new GOP law in the state would cause voter suppression.
While the new Georgia law made it more restrictive to vote by mail after accusations of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, it also requires in-person early voting for at least 17 days within the three weeks leading up to Election Day on November 8.
Despite claims from civil rights groups, as well as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and President Joe Biden, that the laws would restrict voting access, it appears to the contrary – that more voters were emboldened to cast their ballot early in Georgia.
The Peach State had an 85 percent increase in turnout from the last midterm vote in 2018 with first-day in early voting going from 71,000 to 131,000 between the four years.
According to the United States Elections Project, almost 4.5 million people have voted early across the country with 19 days left until Election Day. Nearly half-a-million of that figure comes from Georgia.
A record number of Georgians have turned out to vote early in the midterm elections, new figures show. From 2018 to 2022, the number of first-day early voters rose by 85 percent
Voters reported long lines from polling places in Atlanta suburbs – with some claiming they waited for more than an hour. Pictured: Voters turn out to cast their early ballots on October 17 in Atlanta, Georgia
The state with the most early votes cast by far is Florida with 837,948 casting their ballots early – all by mail. There are 14.46 million voters registered in Florida, and 4.2 million have requested mail-in ballots.
Other high-volume early voting states include California, with 441,031, and battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, with 432,960 and 362,464 respectively.
In Georgia, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office, there are more than 7 million active voters on the state rolls.
Some new changes with Georgia’s election laws require poll locations to be open on weekdays and at least two Saturdays leading up to the official Election Day. They must be closed, however, on the final weekend and Monday before the Tuesday voting day.
Abrams said in March 2021 that Republicans pushing for new voting laws in Georgia were ‘racist’, claiming it was ‘a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie’.
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock showed up to cast an early voting ballot at the C.T. Martin Rec Center in Atlanta on the first day of early voting on October 17
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (left) the White House and civil rights activists have claimed that new GOP election laws in Georgia are the new ‘Jim Crow’ – but the midterm turnout so far has proved to the contrary. She has also called Republican Governor Brian Kemp (right) the ‘chief architect of modern day voter suppression.’
Georgia is home to some critical midterm races in the Senate and statewide elections.
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock is trying to defend his seat from Trump-backed challenger Herschel Walker, a former NFL star. If Walker is able to flip the seat red, he could help Republicans retake a majority in the upper chamber.
Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is also attempting to keep his seat in the Governor’s Mansion in a rematch against Stacey Abrams, who lost against him in the 2018 midterms.
Abrams has reupped her attack line against Kemp from their last match by claiming the governor as ‘assiduously denied access to the right to vote’ and described him as the ‘chief architect of modern day voter suppression.’
While early voting exceeded expectations, some Atlanta-area polling places reported wait times of more than an hour.
These wait times, according to officials, were in part due to brief failures of eNet, the state’s voter registration system, which has caused issues in the past.
While some states have in-person early voting, most early voting so far is based on mail-in ballots that were sent in prior to Election Day next month.
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