Early voting in Georgia, also known as Advance Voting, got underway this weekend in about two dozen counties — many of which are democratic strongholds. And the numbers look good for our side of the aisle.
For instance, in the Atlanta area, the early voting numbers were very high in a particularly critical county — Dekalb. Dekalb County contains a sliver of Atlanta, along with Stone Mountain, Lithonia, and other Atlanta suburbs. With over 750,000 people, it is the fourth most populous county in Georgia. It’s also one of the most strongly Democratic as Democrats routinely recieve over 80% of the vote there, countywide. The only county in Georgia that consistently casts a higher percentage of votes for Democrats is nearby Clayton County.
During the general election period in Dekalb County — from 10/17 to 11/4 — early voting was brisk, averaging about 10,000 voters a day across 16 locations. The highest single day of turnout was the final day of early voting, in which 19,515 people voted. Apart from that day of very high turnout, no other day saw more than 14,000 voters show up.
I’m happy to report that yesterday’s session blew the doors off with 21,572 Dekalb County residents showing up to the polls! This is a stunning amount of voters. Now of course, part of the reason for these eye popping numbers is the fact that Georgia has a rather compressed early voting schedule for the runoff as compared with the general — about 7 or 8 days for the runoff versus 18 days for the general. But any way you slice it, Dekalb County saw massive voter turnout on Sunday.
Fulton County, which comprises most of Atlanta, had similar numbers — about 20,000 voters for Saturday and Sunday each (Dekalb only had limited voting on Saturday).
Moreover, there are already about 10,000 people statewide who have cast votes in the runoff who didn’t cast votes in the general. A glimpse at the demographic makeup of these voters tells us that they are probably in Warnock’s camp. Two thirds of these voters are non-white and about 60% fall into the 18-29 age group.
Overall, statewide, just over 180,000 people have cast votes either by mail, dropoff, or early in person. That may not seem like a lot, but again, only about two dozen out of Georgia’s 159 counties opted to allow in person voting this past weekend.
But how do we know for sure that the people who showed up this weekend in Dekalb County and other democratic strongholds are voting for Raphael Warnock? We don’t. All we can do is make an educated guess. An examination of the demographic makeup of these early voters can provide a hint as to whether or not they are voting for Warnock, but nothing is ever certain until the votes are counted.
In any case, let’s have a look at the demographic outline of the early voters so far in Dekalb County.
According to the 2020 census numbers, Dekalb County is roughly 28% white and 50% African American. According to georgiavotes.com, the composition of early voters so far in Dekalb County is about 33% white and 53% African American. These numbers more or less match Dekalb County’s current demographic makeup. The final composition of early voters at the end of the early voting period in Dekalb County during the general election was 38% white and 48% African American so it will be interesting to see how the current numbers look at the end of this early voting period for the runoff.
Regarding gender, 58% of early voters in Dekalb County have been female, compared with 51% of its citizenry. So far, the numbers in Dekalb County look good.
Let’s look at another Democratic stronghold just for the sake of comparison. Chatham County (Savannah) saw some very strong turnout this weekend as well. According to the latest census numbers, Chatham County is about 47% white and 37% African American. Yet the composition of early voters so far is about 47% African American and 41% white. Furthermore, nearly 60% of the early voters in Chatham County so far have been female.
The numbers look good so far in just about every county that has had early voting, but as we know things can change quickly. Let’s help re-elect Raphael Warnock and keep Georgia blue. Visit Senator Warnock’s website to www.warnock.senate.gov to see how you can assist the Warnock campaign.