Georgia has reported a record turnout of over 328,000 early votes just on the first day of the state's early voting period, even as the state continues efforts to recover from the onslaught wrought by Hurricane Helene and authorities battle legal challenges to newly implemented election administration changes.
The residents of Georgia are still grappling with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which struck the Southeastern U.S. in late September. But despite the damages, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed that absentee ballots have been distributed on schedule. (Related: Trump campaign launches initiative encouraging Republicans to embrace early voting and mail-in, absentee ballot options.)
"So far, we have seen just over 250,000 voters request absentee ballots. Perhaps in the next week or so, we'll see that rise up to 300,000 – and that we think will probably look like around five to six percent of all voters will be voting absentee this cycle," Raffensperger said on Tuesday, Oct. 15, the first day of early voting in Georgia.
Raffensperger also disclosed new state laws that restrict absentee voting and reduce the availability of drop boxes may be a factor driving more voters to cast their ballots early and in person.
Georgia law previously allowed drop boxes to be available at all hours of the day. But this year, Georgia amended the rule and now drop boxes are only accessible during business hours and at select locations.
However, Georgia did expand early voting hours, including mandatory Saturday voting and optional Sunday voting, which may have helped offset the changes made to absentee ballot rules by providing more flexibility for voters.
In line with this, Gabe Sterling, chief operating officer for Raffensperger's office, disclosed that the state far surpassed its previous first-day voting record of 136,000 in 2020.
"So with the record-breaking first day of early voting and accepted absentees we have had over 328,000 total votes cast so far," he posted on X on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
Georgia judge blocks rule mandating hand-count of all ballots
As one of the seven key battleground states that Republicans and Democrats are vigorously fighting for, Georgia is expected to play a very critical role in determining the outcome of the election.
In line with this, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney has handed down a ruling temporarily halting a rule that required election officials to hand-count the number of ballots cast at each polling site. McBurney argued that implementing this rule so close to Election Day could lead to confusion and delay.
"No training has been administered (let alone developed), no protocols for handling write-in ballots have been issued, and no allowances have been made in any county's election budget for additional personnel and other expenses required to implement the Hand Count Rule," McBurney wrote in his order on Tuesday. "The administrative chaos that will – not may – ensue is entirely inconsistent with the obligations of our boards of elections (and the SEB) to ensure that our elections are fair, legal and orderly."
Moreover, McBurney is also weighing the implications of a separate regulation approved by the board in August. This rule mandates that local election officials carry out a "reasonable inquiry" into election results before certifying them.
However, Democrats argue that this could give officials too much leeway to delay certification or even decline to certify election results based on suspected irregularities, which could undermine the electoral process.
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