Georgia's Early Vote Ends at a Record 2.8 Million as the National Total Passes All of 2022
Three weeks of in-person early voting closed Friday with 34 percent of Georgia's registered voters already counted, and the national early vote has passed the whole of the last midterm.
Saturday, October 31, 2026/3 min read
Georgia's early voting period is over, and the numbers are unlike any midterm the state has seen. More than 2.8 million Georgians cast ballots before in-person early voting closed on Friday 30 October, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Saturday, including a midterm record of 2.7 million in person. That is 34 percent of the state's 8.2 million registered voters, up 13 percent on the same stage in 2022.
Nationally the picture is the same. No Labels, citing the University of Florida Election Lab, counted more than 46 million early ballots by Friday, already past the 45.9 million cast early across the entire 2022 midterm, with days of voting still to come in several states. Our report one week out had the total at 34 million.
Who voted early in Georgia?
Georgia does not register voters by party, so the AJC's analysis works from precincts and primary history. Precincts that voted strongly for Kamala Harris in 2024 cast roughly 60,000 more early ballots than strongly Trump precincts; in 2022 the Trump precincts led by about 1,000. About 31 percent of registered voters in strong Harris precincts have voted, against 28 percent in strong Trump precincts.
More than 883,000 people who voted in Democratic primaries have already voted in the general election, compared with nearly 644,000 Republican primary voters, a gap of roughly 239,000. The electorate is also less white than four years ago: white voters make up 52.6 percent of early ballots, down from 58.2 percent, while Black voters are 32.4 percent, up from 30.2 percent. Hispanic voters cast more than 104,000 ballots, 3.7 percent of the total, nearly double their 2022 share.
Nearly one in four early voters, more than 630,000 people, skipped the 2022 midterm. Over 310,000 voters aged 18 to 29 have voted, 11 percent of the total, and about two thirds of them did not vote in 2022. Mail and electronic ballots were a small slice, about 119,000 or 4.2 percent, down from nearly 9 percent four years ago.
What does a record early vote actually tell us?
Less than either side would like. Early data shows who voted, not how. Republicans have historically leaned on election day turnout, and the AJC notes that about 1.9 million registered voters in Trump strongholds had not yet voted, against 1.8 million in Harris strongholds. Many rural counties saw early turnout fall even as Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett supplied nearly 40 percent of the state's early ballots.
The national figures carry the same caveat. In states that report party registration, No Labels found Democrats cast 43.9 percent of early ballots to Republicans' 31.3 percent, with unaffiliated voters at 24.8 percent. Texas had passed 6.3 million early votes by Wednesday, up 50 percent on 2022; South Carolina was up 83 percent, Maine 44 percent and Michigan 32 percent. The University of Florida's Michael McDonald thinks overall turnout could beat 2022 and rival 2018, while MIT's Charles Stewart cautions that voters may simply be shifting away from election day rather than turning out in greater numbers.
What happens between now and Tuesday?
Georgia's Senate, governor and statewide races are now in the hands of the voters who have not yet shown up. The 435,000 Georgians who voted on election day in 2022 and have already voted this year suggest the final-day crowd will look different, but it will still decide close contests. Connecticut's early voting runs through Sunday, and a handful of other states keep their doors open into the weekend. By Monday evening the early vote will be fixed, and the only number left to watch will be the one from Tuesday.
Published in The Outspoken Digest
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