By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Georgia voters turned out in record numbers as the battleground state opened early voting for the Nov. 5 presidential election between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, state officials said on Tuesday.
At least 252,000 voters had cast ballots at early voting locations as of 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT), nearly double the 136,000 who participated in the first day of early voting in the 2020 election, said Gabriel Sterling, the second Georgia election official. . “Spectacular turnout,” he wrote on social media.
Early voting, in person or by mail, has become increasingly popular among American voters. According to the University of Florida Election Lab, nearly 1 in 7 voters cast their ballots before Election Day in 2020. However, many Republicans opposed the dramatic expansion of mail-in voting that year, saying it was less secure than in-person voting, and Trump cited false claims of ballot fraud as he tried unsuccessfully to overturn his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.
Some Republicans continue to insist that voters should only cast ballots in person on Election Day, though party officials are encouraging their supporters to vote in advance.
Nationally, 5.5 million Americans have already voted this year, according to Election Lab. In contrast, by this point in the 2020 election, 27 million people had cast ballots as voters sought to avoid crowded polling places during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like some other states, Georgia has since tightened its voting-by-mail laws, requiring voters who want to vote absentee to provide identification and limiting the number of places where they can drop off their ballots.
Georgia is one of seven competitive battleground states expected to play a decisive role in deciding the elections.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Matthew Lewis)
