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ATLANTA - With slightly more than 1 week to go, 39% of active voters in Pike County have already cast ballots. This is a significant surge from past years and is part of the record early turnout that Georgia has seen so far ahead of the November elections.
“The record turnout is a testament to the hard work our state and local elections officials are putting in to uphold election access for Georgia voters,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “We are setting records every hour. Adjusting to a new voting system or turning on a dime to accommodate a surge in absentee by mail voting would be enough to challenge even the most seasoned elections officials. Doing so with the added complications of COVID-19 has made this effort truly Herculean.”
So far, 5,329 of Pike County’s 13,807 registered voters have already turned out to vote early, representing 39% of the total registered votes in the county. This significant early turnout number tracks with the record turnout seen across Georgia and throughout the country.
Of the 5,329 ballots cast in Pike County so far, 1,157 absentee by mail ballots have been returned by mail or through the more than 200 absentee ballot dropboxes that have been installed across the state. The drop boxes were first allowed following a rule passed by the State Election Board, which is chaired by Secretary Raffensperger, earlier this year at the request of county elections officials.
Much of the surge in early voting has come from record early, in-person voting. In Pike County so far, 4,172 voters have cast ballots early, in-person.
Record Breaking Early In-Person Voting Continues: October 27, 5 p.m. Update
ATLANTA - Georgia voters have turned out in record numbers to vote during the state’s gold-standard three weeks of early in-person voting. As the November 3 general election approaches, Georgia continues to break records in absentee by mail voting and early, in-person voting.
“Georgia is a leader in election access,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “Notwithstanding the pandemic, voters in the Peach State can take advantage of no-excuse absentee ballot voting by mail or through a secure drop box; three weeks of early, in-person voting; or Election Day voting.”
Ballots Cast as of 5 p.m. on October 27, 2020
Total Number of Ballots Cast: 3,159,807
Total Number of Early, In-Person Ballots Cast So Far Today: 141,982
Total Number of Early, In-Person Ballots Cast: 2,111,512
Total Number of Absentee By Mail Ballots Cast: 1,048,295
Ballots Cast as of Close of Polls on October 31, 2016
Total Number of Ballots Cast: 1,517,281
Total Number of Early, In-Person Ballots Cast: 1,381,034
Total Number of Absentee By Mail Ballots Cast: 136,247
Percentage Increases Compare Close of Polls Data for the 15th Day of Early Voting in 2020 and 2016:
Percentage Increase in Total Turnout to Date: 96.6%
Percentage Increase in Total Early, In-Person Turnout to Date: 42.4%
Percentage Increase in Absentee By Mail Ballots Accepted to Date: 639.8%
Georgia is recognized as a national leader in elections. It was the first state in the country to implement the trifecta of automatic voter registration, at least 16 days of early voting (which has been called the “gold standard”), and no-excuse absentee voting. Georgia continues to set records for voter turnout and election participation, seeing the largest increase in average turnout of any other state in the 2018 midterm election and record primary turnout in 2020, with over 1.1 million absentee by mail voters and over 1.2 million in-person voters utilizing Georgia’s new, secure, paper ballot voting system.
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