Georgia tops 1.3 million early votes as Ossoff-Collins Senate race enters its final week

Georgia voters have cast more than 1.29 million ballots in the first ten days of early voting for the Nov. 3 midterm election, state election officials and local broadcasters reported this week, putting the state on pace to exceed its 2022 midterm turnout with one week of early voting still to go.

The surge is unfolding in a state carrying outsized weight in the fight for control of the U.S. Senate, where Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff is seeking a second term against Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, and in an open race for governor between Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson, a political newcomer, after two-term Gov. Brian Kemp was barred by law from seeking reelection.

A pace ahead of the last midterm

Early in-person voting opened Oct. 13, and the Georgia Secretary of State's Office said more than 190,000 people voted that first day alone, over 53,000 more than the opening day of the 2022 midterm, a figure also cited by WRDW/WAGT. By the following Monday, Oct. 19, local station Atlanta News First reported total turnout — in-person votes plus accepted absentee ballots — had crossed 1,005,000, with 960,707 of those cast in person, a milestone the Secretary of State's Office also marked that week. By Oct. 23, a daily tally compiled by WRDW/WAGT and sourced to county election offices put the cumulative statewide total at 1,293,221, with one week of early voting still remaining.

Voters can track the status of their own ballot through the state's official My Voter Page portal. Early voting is scheduled to run through Oct. 30, with Election Day on Nov. 3.

What's on the ballot

The Senate race is the marquee national contest on Georgia's ballot, part of a broader map that will decide which party controls the chamber for the back half of President Trump's term. But it sits alongside a long list of other offices up this cycle: an open governor's seat, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general are all open races, while Republican incumbents are defending the insurance and fire commissioner, labor commissioner, agriculture commissioner and state school superintendent posts. Voters are also choosing all 14 of Georgia's U.S. House seats, 180 state House seats, 56 state Senate seats and two seats on the Public Service Commission, according to Atlanta News First and WRDW/WAGT.

Both the Senate and governor's races have been rated competitive by national handicappers through much of the fall, and the scale of early turnout gives both parties data to parse for signs of enthusiasm before Election Day itself.

Mail ballots under scrutiny

The early-voting surge is also playing out against a backdrop of heightened attention to mail balloting nationally. WRDW/WAGT reported that the deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail for the Nov. 3 election has already passed for most voters, and that the U.S. Postal Service says its network is running normally, with nearly 98 percent of ballot mail this season meeting delivery standards so far. Georgia election officials are urging voters who still hold a mail ballot to return it to a county registrar's office or an official drop box rather than risk the mail, given that completed ballots must be received by county officials by 7 p.m. on Election Day to count.

What happens next

Early voting continues through Oct. 30, including mandatory Saturday hours at Georgia polling sites, before polls open statewide on Election Day, Nov. 3. Election officials have not released a turnout projection for the full early-voting period, but if the current pace holds, Georgia's early vote could meaningfully exceed its 2022 midterm total before a single Election Day ballot is cast. The closely watched Senate race will be among several nationally that determine whether Republicans retain their majority, while Georgia's governor's race will decide who succeeds Kemp as the state enters a new political cycle.