Georgia officials expecting ‘record-breaker’ for first day of early voting

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said he expects a “record-breaker” for early voting, which opened Tuesday in the Peach State, even in the wake of devastation from Hurricane Helene that threatened to disrupt access.

“It looks like this will be a record-breaker for the first day of early voting — but we don’t make predictions, we let the voters decide but it looks like we’re going to have strong early voting today,” Raffensperger said at a press conference at the Georgia State Capitol.

He added that the state has been working “overtime” to make sure early voting could start and absentee ballots could be sent out as scheduled.

“When you think back to where we were two and a half weeks ago, this is a cause for celebration. So many people said, ‘What’s going to happen? There’s no way you’ll have elections starting in Georgia on time,'” Raffensberger said, adding that early voting started on time in all 159 counties in the state.

The state secretary noted that as of almost 10:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the state already had more than 71,000 people vote early.

Hurricane Helene created new hurdles for voters and election officials alike in Georgia and North Carolina, threatening disruptions to the voting process — including power outages and road closures — in two of the most critical battleground states just weeks before Election Day.

But the Georgia secretary of state’s office had started working before the storm landed to prepare for any potential disturbances, communications director Robert Sinners told The Hill last week.

“We have to let the first responders finish doing their jobs, but as power is restored and voting locations can be assessed, we will make sure that the upcoming election is safe, secure and convenient for all Georgia voters,” Raffensperger said at the time.

Last week, a federal judge declined to reopen voter registration in the state despite alleged disruptions noted in a joint complaint filed by the NAACP, the Georgia state conference of the NAACP and other advocacy groups.