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CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — Georgia voters flocked to the polls Saturday to cast their ballots in the Senate runoff, taking advantage of an extra voting day caused by a lawsuit by Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D) who lost his defends seat against Republican Herschel Walker.
In more than two dozen counties across the state, thousands of voters from both parties turned out to vote, some waiting for hours in lines around the block for a chance to cast their vote early for the Dec. 6 runoff.
The Office of the Secretary of State reported that at least 70,000 people voted on Saturday. The first Saturday of early voting for the general election attracted 79,682 people, more than double the 2018 figure. Early voting will continue through Friday.
Those who took advantage of Saturday’s vote included college students coming home for Thanksgiving, police officers and ambulance workers working full hours, lifelong voters who aim to always cast their ballots on the first day that they are allowed, and retirees just looking for an escape from vacationers.
“We have a house full of company. That gave me a good excuse to get out a bit,” said Bill Chapel, a Bartow County Walker supporter who said he usually votes early.
Chapel said he hopes Saturday’s election will help Walker more than Warnock, who filed the lawsuit that caused polling stations here to open a day earlier than state election officials planned. Democrats have organized more around Saturday’s early vote and have been promoting the option more than Republicans over the past week.
A total of 27 counties held polls on Saturday, giving voters who may be busy during the week greater voting opportunities. The participating counties, which include most of the state’s major metropolitan areas and several rural counties, ensured just over half the state’s population had a chance to vote on Saturday.
Although Warnock received about 35,000 votes more than Walker in the November 8 general election, he failed to reach the 50 percent threshold for an outright victory, triggering a runoff and prolonging one of the costliest Senate races in the midterm. A poll released last week by AARP had Warnock ahead of Walker, 51 percent to 47 percent, within the 4.4 percentage point margin of error.
Warnock, a senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, won the Senate seat in a special runoff in January 2021 and is seeking a full six-year term. If he wins on December 6, Democrats will hold 51 Senate seats.
Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy as a running back for the University of Georgia in 1982, was encouraged by former President Donald Trump to run for the seat. His candidacy has drawn headlines about his past, including allegations of domestic violence and that he pressured and paid two former girlfriends to have abortions. Walker is a staunch opponent of abortion and says he would support a national ban on the procedure.
Initially, Georgia’s Secretary of State said counties would be allowed to hold Saturday votes in runoff elections, but reversed course after ruling that part of Georgia’s electoral law barring voting two days after a public holiday compressed Saturday voting under the new one Schedule for a runoff bans mandated by the new law.
Democrats, led by Warnock’s campaign, sued the state, arguing that the policy in question did not apply to runoff elections. A Fulton County judge sided with Warnock, the state Democratic Party and the Democratic Senators’ Campaign Committee in the case. The Republican Attorney General for the state and the state and national Republican parties lost their appeals in state courts.
In a donation email, Walker’s campaign told supporters that the decision to allow voting on Saturday “is like coming out after halftime and being told the umpires changed the rules for the rest of the game.” “.
Then the decision whether to vote on Saturday fell to the districts. In Bartow County, northwest of Atlanta, the election committee decided to do this at a single polling station in Cartersville. Walker won the county by 50 points earlier this month.
Peggy Brown, a Democratic member of the Bartow Board of Elections, noted the irony that the two Democrats and one Independent on the five-seat board were pushing for a Saturday vote in the deep red county, while the two Republicans on the board voted against.
“They didn’t think it was worth the money to do it and that there wasn’t going to be a very good turnout, but I think we’re going to prove them wrong,” Brown said of a consistent lineup of voters — both Republicans and Democrats too — circling around the polling station in the Municipal House.
The extra day of voting cost $1,100, Brown said, and the board wasn’t sure at first if they would have enough workers given holiday travel and people hosting guests from out of town.
All counties in Georgia are required by the 2021 state election law to hold early ballots from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays before a runoff. Several counties, including many of the state’s most populous, had planned to hold Sunday voting over the weekend before required early voting begins and passed trigger policies to fund Saturday voting if it proved legal.
The public debate and litigation over Saturday’s vote is the latest conflict over the state’s election laws, which were overhauled by a controversial 2021 election law that had a significant impact on policies related to absentee ballots, runoff ballots, early voting and election administration policies. The 2022 midterm elections are the first test of the Electoral Integrity Law, also known as SB 202. How the law interacts with other parts of Georgia’s electoral law has caused confusion in the law’s implementation.
Some voters said they didn’t want to take any chances and wait until Election Day to cast their ballot.
“If there’s any disruption or anything like that that day, then you’re kind of, you know, screwed,” said Douglas Edwards, a Cartersville dentist who supports Warnock. “Today, if there is something, we could always come back on Tuesday.”
A number of students expressed concern about their absentee voting and the ease of Saturday voting that comes with being home for Thanksgiving.
“I’m doing an internship abroad and I didn’t get my absentee ballot in time to vote for the midterms, which I was quite upset about,” said Katie Poe, a master’s student. “I’m in town for the holidays, and voting this Saturday is my only chance to actually vote in person, and maybe even vote reliably at all.”
“I’ve had a lot of problems with postal voting in the past. It’s kind of disheartening to only be able to vote when I’m here because it’s so important to me,” she added.
“I’m a college student in Boston and this is pretty much my only opportunity to vote in person. So I had to go out and vote, it’s a long line but we’re waiting as best we can,” said Catherine McBride, a Cobb County college grad coming home for Thanksgiving.
McBride said she voted absentee in the general election earlier in the month but had to wait two or three weeks for her ballot and was concerned it wouldn’t reach her in time for the general. So she decided to vote in person at the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration polling station in Marietta on Saturday.
Kavita Kar, a first-year student at Marietta’s Stanford University who votes at the same venue, cited similar concerns about absentee voting.
“I’m going back to college tomorrow,” Kar said of her decision to vote on Saturday. “For the last election, many of my friends didn’t get their Cobb County ballots in time.”
Several hundred voters queued to vote at the Cobb site Saturday afternoon and waited about two hours to cast their ballots. Warnock won Cobb County by 16 points.
Though it’s a Democrat-led effort, Republicans and Democrats alike praised Saturday’s vote for making it easier to vote on work and travel plans.
“It’s hard to get out during the weekday when you’re moving dirt,” said Kevin Tomlin, a Republican and Bartow County heavy equipment operator.
“With my good schedule, we always vote early,” said Bill Stahl, a Taylorsville police officer who supports Walker. “It gives everyone a chance to get out. It will not help any particular party.”
“I work for an ambulance company and I do 12-hour days and this choice was really important,” said Delores Flanagan, a Warnock supporter. “That’s why I knew I wanted to vote at the first opportunity.”
“I usually vote by post. But the last time I tried, it took forever to actually get the ballot, and I was worried I might not be able to vote,” Flanagan said of her willingness to wait in the two-hour line to vote in Cobb County .
Sandi Griffin, a Walker supporter from Aragon, remarked that it was “kind of odd” that each district could decide whether to vote early. And so it was quite difficult to keep track of when ours was going to open,” she said.
Griffin said she and her husband made travel plans before the runoff was called, so welcomed the opportunity to vote on Saturday. “We’re leaving town, we had to vote on an early vote today and I’m glad they finally opened it up.”
Still, Griffin, a Republican, said she’s concerned the extra day will help Democrats.
“I’m afraid it will. It’s a fear, and also on Sunday because then they can drive the church people with buses,” she said.
Voters who spoke to the Washington Post said they were used to the long lines and needed to return to the polls for a runoff – with Saturday’s vote being just another chance to participate in the seemingly endless election season.
“We’re going to do it over and over again,” said Robert Schofer, a Kennesaw-based Warnock supporter. “And again.”
Matt Brown contributed to this report.
