The secretary of state’s office reported that at least 70,000 people voted Saturday. The first Saturday of early voting for the general election drew 79,682 people, more than double the 2018 number. Early voting will continue through Friday.
Those taking advantage of Saturday voting included college students visiting home for Thanksgiving, police officers and ambulance workers with busy work schedules, lifelong voters who make it a point to always cast their ballots on the first day they are allowed, and retirees just seeking an escape from holiday guests.
“We got a house full of company. This gave me a good excuse to get out for a little,” said Bill Chapel, a Walker supporter from Bartow County, who said he typically votes early.
Chapel said he hopes that Saturday voting ends up helping Walker more than Warnock, who filed the lawsuit that resulted in the polls here being open a day earlier than had been planned by state elections officials. Democrats have organized more around the Saturday early vote and have promoted the option this past week more than Republicans.
A total of 27 counties conducted Saturday voting, giving greater opportunities to cast a ballot for voters who may be occupied during the week. The participating counties, which include most the state’s major metropolitan areas and several rural counties, ensured that just over half the state’s population had the opportunity to vote on Saturday.
Although Warnock received about 35,000 more votes than Walker in the Nov. 8 general election, he did not meet the 50 percent threshold for an outright win, triggering a runoff and prolonging one of the most expensive Senate races in the midterms. A poll released last week by AARP had Warnock ahead of Walker, 51 percent to 47 percent, within the margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
Warnock, a senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, won the Senate seat in a special runoff election in January of 2021 and is seeking a full, six-year term. If he wins on Dec. 6, Democrats will hold 51 seats in the Senate.
Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1982 as a running back for the University of Georgia, was encouraged to run for the seat by former president Donald Trump. His candidacy has generated headlines about his past, including allegations of domestic violence and that he pressured and paid for two former girlfriends to have abortions. Walker has campaign as staunch opponent of abortion, saying he would support a national ban on the procedure.
Initially, the Georgia secretary of state said counties would be allowed to hold Saturday voting in runoff elections but reversed course after deciding that a part of Georgia’s election code barring voting two days after a holiday banned Saturday voting under the new compressed timeline for a runoff election mandated by the new law.
Democrats, led by Warnock’s campaign, sued the state, arguing that the policies in question didn’t apply to runoff elections. A judge in Fulton county sided with Warnock, the state Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the case. The state’s Republican attorney general, as well as the state and national Republican parties, lost their appeals in state courts.
In a fundraising email, Walker’s campaign told supporters that the decision to allow Saturday voting “is like coming out after halftime and learning the referees have changed the rules for the rest of the…
Read More: Georgia voters headed to the polls Saturday for Senate runoff
