About half of Georgia’s early voters so far last chose a Democratic primary ballot, a more Democratic early electorate than at this point in 2022, when Republican Brian Kemp beat Stacey Abrams for governor by 7.5 percentage points. Through Saturday, Oct. 17, voters whose most recent party primary was Democratic have cast 51.0% of the state’s 837,387 early ballots, up from 44.4% in 2022. Republican primary voters have cast 35.9%, down from 41.6%.
Of this year’s early voters, 13.2% have no Democratic or Republican primary in their record. We are building an estimate of how they lean and will publish it in a later report.
Explore daily counts by county and voter group on the Georgia Early Voting Dashboard.
Saturday widened Georgia’s lead over 2022
Georgia moved ahead of its 2022 pace on Friday and widened the lead on Saturday, on the strength of in-person voting; mail voting is far behind. The state accepted 94,505 ballots on Saturday, 7,677 more than on the matching Saturday in 2022, and its lead over 2022 grew from 4,376 ballots through Friday to 12,053. Georgia is 1.5% ahead of 2022 and 39.7% behind 2024, a presidential year. In-person ballots are 7.9% ahead of 2022. Mail ballots are 58.4% behind, and this year’s mail count rises as county offices process returns.
Georgia has 4.9% more registered voters than in 2022, so the share who have voted early, 10.2%, is slightly below the 10.5% at this point in 2022. Both rates count all registered voters, active and inactive.
This year has one fewer day of in-person voting than 2022 at this point. In-person voting began on Tuesday, Oct. 13, this year, 21 days until Election Day, and on Monday, Oct. 17, in 2022, 22 days until Election Day.
Saturday widened Georgia’s lead over 2022 to 12,053 ballots
Scroll horizontally to see the full chart.
In-person voting began on Monday, Oct. 17, in 2022, 22 days until Election Day, and on a Tuesday, 21 days until Election Day, in 2024 and 2026.
Half of early voters last chose a Democratic primary ballot
The early electorate is more Democratic than at this point in 2022 or 2024. Georgia voters do not register by party, but the state records which party’s ballot each voter chose in a primary. Democratic primary voters have cast 51.0% of early ballots, against 44.4% at this point in 2022 and 36.3% in 2024. Republican primary voters have cast 35.9%, against 41.6% and 40.5%.
This year’s Democratic share is likely to fall as early voting goes on. Later early voters are less likely to have a primary record: in 2024, the Democratic primary share fell from 36.3% at this point to 29.4% of all early ballots by the end of early voting, while voters with no recorded primary rose from 22.6% to 35.1%.
Democratic primary voters are voting early at about the same rate as in 2022, 23.8% of the group against 23.5%. Republican primary voters are voting at a lower rate, 15.9% against 18.4%. Both rates count every registered voter in the group, active and inactive. White Democratic primary voters are 29.8% ahead of 2022, and White Republican primary voters are 13.1% behind.
Some voters switch parties between primaries. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution counted about 67,000 voters in the May 2022 Republican primary who had voted in the June 2020 Democratic primary, and an Associated Press review of early votes alone found more than 37,000; our voter-history records show about 37,900. Switching runs both ways. Counting every switcher among early voters by their earlier party would put this year’s split at 50.7% Democratic and 36.1% Republican, against 45.2% and 40.8% in 2022.
Democratic primary voters have cast 51.0% of early ballots, up from 44.4% at this point in 2022
Scroll horizontally to see the full chart.
Each voter is grouped by the most recent Democratic or Republican primary in their voting record before that year’s election; records start in March 2016. Voters who chose only nonpartisan ballots, less than 1% of early ballots, are not shown. A primary ballot is not a party registration or a vote in November.
Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton are nearly even with 2022
The Democratic core is back near its 2022 level and Gwinnett and Cobb are ahead, but Republican Cherokee and Forsyth are gaining faster. Kamala Harris won Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton by a combined 554,431 votes in 2024 and still lost Georgia to Donald Trump by 115,100. The three counties are 137 ballots short of 2022, down from 1,874 through Friday, and DeKalb moved ahead on Saturday. Gwinnett is 12.9% ahead of 2022 and Cobb 8.3% ahead.
Cherokee and Forsyth, where Trump won more than 65% of the vote in 2024, are 16,095 ballots ahead of 2022. That is more than the 12,300-ballot gain of the five core metro counties, Clayton, DeKalb, Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett, combined.
DeKalb moved ahead of 2022 on Saturday, and Fulton and Clayton narrowed their gaps
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Through Friday compares Oct. 16, 2026 with Oct. 21, 2022; through Saturday compares Oct. 17, 2026 with Oct. 22, 2022. The 2024 share is the winning presidential candidate’s share of all votes cast for president in the county.
Black voters are a larger share of the early vote than in 2022 or 2024
Black voters’ share of the early vote is the highest of the three elections, and in-person ballots from Black voters are up from 2022 while those from White voters are even. Black voters have cast 35.0% of early ballots, against 32.7% at this point in 2022 and 27.5% in 2024, and 36.4% of Saturday’s ballots. In-person ballots from Black voters are 17.0% ahead of 2022. Among Black voters, the largest gains are among those 18 to 34, 37.8% ahead of 2022, and 65 and older, 12.2% ahead. Early ballots from White voters are 4.9% behind 2022, but in-person ballots from White voters are 0.3% ahead; the whole drop is in mail ballots, and recent mail ballots are still being counted.
The number of registered Black voters has grown faster than their early ballots, so the share of registered Black voters who have voted early, 11.5%, is slightly below 2022’s 11.7%. Early ballots from Hispanic and Asian voters are far ahead of 2022, but each group has cast less than 3% of early ballots.
Black voters have cast 35.0% of early ballots, up from 32.7% at this point in 2022
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Race as recorded in the voter file. Shares are of all accepted early ballots through Oct. 17, 2026, Oct. 22, 2022 and Oct. 19, 2024, each 17 days until Election Day. Other and unrecorded races are not shown.
Young voters are ahead of 2022 but remain a small share
Young voters are ahead of 2022 but are still a small share of early voters. Voters 18 to 34 have cast 9.7% of early ballots so far. They are 17.5% ahead of 2022, and 3.3% of registered voters 18 to 34 have voted early, against 2.9% at this point in 2022. Young voters cast a larger share on Saturdays every year: 18.8% of this Saturday’s ballots, against 16.2% on 2022’s matching Saturday and 21.7% on 2024’s.
Voters who skip primaries are turning out; new voters are behind
Voters who show up every November but skip primaries are voting early in larger numbers, and new registrants are behind. Voters who cast ballots in both of the last two November elections but in neither of the last two primaries have cast 64.5% more early ballots than the matching group in 2022. Voters registered since the last November election have cast 23.3% fewer, and a smaller share of them have voted early, 4.1% against 5.3%. That makes new registrants the clearest group still to reach.
How to read this table: each row is a group of registered voters defined by their record in the two November elections and two primaries before each year’s election: for 2026, November 2022 and 2024 and the May 2024 and May 2026 primaries; for 2022, November 2018 and 2020 and the June 2020 and May 2022 primaries. “Share of group voted” divides early ballots by all registered voters in the group. The table does not show every group, and the last row, defined by registration date, overlaps the others.
| Voting history | 2026 ballots | 2022 ballots | Change in ballots | 2026 share of group voted | 2022 share of group voted | Change, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voted in all four | 314,081 | 387,407 | -18.9% | 35.0% | 32.7% | ▲ +2.3 |
| Both Novembers, one primary | 246,087 | 206,688 | +19.1% | 22.3% | 17.6% | ▲ +4.7 |
| Both Novembers, no primaries | 144,489 | 87,819 | +64.5% | 9.3% | 8.0% | ▲ +1.3 |
| One November, one primary | 22,593 | 24,087 | -6.2% | 14.0% | 9.9% | ▲ +4.1 |
| One November, no primaries | 37,234 | 25,688 | +44.9% | 2.9% | 2.7% | ▲ +0.2 |
| Registered since the last November election | 22,981 | 29,975 | -23.3% | 4.1% | 5.3% | ▼ -1.3 |
Scroll horizontally to see the full table.
Recent days’ counts rise in later records
Each day’s count rises in later records as mail ballots are processed, so this report’s figures for recent days can go up. The records released Sunday add 1,494 ballots returned through Friday, 1,194 of them by mail.
How to read this table: each row is one day. The 2022 and 2024 columns show the day with the same number of days until Election Day.
| Day (days until Election Day) | 2026 all ballots | 2026 in person | 2026 mail | 2022 all ballots | 2022 in person | 2024 all ballots | 2024 in person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday (21) | 196,801 | 190,393 | 6,105 | 146,741 | 134,841 | 326,884 | 310,956 |
| Wednesday (20) | 180,472 | 174,525 | 5,794 | 146,355 | 127,790 | 289,814 | 277,756 |
| Thursday (19) | 171,532 | 164,278 | 7,101 | 138,363 | 122,998 | 275,209 | 258,051 |
| Friday (18) | 188,249 | 180,822 | 7,296 | 156,481 | 141,742 | 305,667 | 287,308 |
| Saturday (17) | 94,505 | 91,122 | 3,328 | 86,828 | 80,300 | 175,431 | 163,743 |
Scroll horizontally to see the full table.
39 counties are ahead of 2022
Most counties are still behind 2022; the gains are concentrated in a few large metro and exurban counties. Thirty-nine of Georgia’s 159 counties are ahead of 2022, including 13 of the 20 with the most registered voters, while the median county is 9.2% behind. Outside the five core metro counties, the rest of the state is nearly even with 2022.
39 of Georgia’s 159 counties have accepted more early ballots than at this point in 2022
Change in accepted early ballots from Oct. 22, 2022 to Oct. 17, 2026, both 17 days until Election Day.
How to read this table: the five counties with the largest gains in accepted early ballots over 2022 at 17 days until Election Day, then the five with the largest losses. Shaded rows are core metro counties.
| County | 2026 ballots | 2022 ballots | Change in ballots | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherokee | 26,104 | 16,550 | +9,554 | +57.7% |
| Gwinnett | 63,554 | 56,310 | +7,244 | +12.9% |
| Forsyth | 20,843 | 14,302 | +6,541 | +45.7% |
| Cobb | 67,923 | 62,730 | +5,193 | +8.3% |
| Richmond | 12,368 | 8,141 | +4,227 | +51.9% |
| Muscogee | 12,885 | 14,351 | -1,466 | -10.2% |
| Lowndes | 6,664 | 8,046 | -1,382 | -17.2% |
| Paulding | 12,541 | 13,869 | -1,328 | -9.6% |
| Fulton | 102,505 | 103,593 | -1,088 | -1.1% |
| Habersham | 3,342 | 4,430 | -1,088 | -24.6% |
What we are watching next
- Sunday, Oct. 18, matches Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022, when Georgia accepted 18,769 ballots. Georgia needs at least 6,717 on Sunday to stay ahead of 2022’s running total.
- Monday, Oct. 19, matches Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, when Georgia accepted 153,708 ballots.