Georgia’s Early Vote Soars 142% After GOP Attacks Mailed Ballots
- Trump criticism spurs a late switch by many to vote in person
- Reliably conservative state has two tight U.S. Senate races
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The record-smashing crowds casting ballots early in battleground Georgia owe their size at least in part to people changing their minds about voting by mail after President Donald Trump and other Republicans spent months criticizing the method.
In the first eight days of voting, nearly 1.7 million Georgians voted absentee or in-person, a 142% increase from the same period in the 2016 race, state data show. Of those, more than 980,000 voted in person.
Long lines are forming at polling places across the country, including Florida, where in-person voting started Monday.