Georgia’s swing state breaks turnout record on first day of early voting in U.S. elections

A RECORD NUMBER of more than 128,000 people went to the polls on the first day of early voting in Georgia, the state announced.

The high turnout surpassed the nearly 91,000 votes cast on the first day of early voting in 2016 and saw anxious voters waiting in queues for hours across the transition state to cast their votes.

Election officials and advocacy groups have been pressuring people to vote early in U.S. elections, either in person or by absentee vote, in anticipation of record turnout and concerns about exposure to the coronavirus.

People can continue to vote early in person until October 30. While voters must vote at their assigned polling place on Election Day, they can vote at any open voting location in the county where they live during early voting.

The queues were already forming again this morning. An online wait time tracking tool in Gwinnett County, a populated suburban area northeast of Atlanta, showed waits of more than three hours at two of the county’s early voting locations.

With photos and videos of long lines posted by the media and widely circulating on social media, some election integrity advocates and elected officials said it was evidence of voter suppression and called on election officials to take steps to take immediate action.

But others urged patience.

“Election officials have limited resources, especially during the pandemic,” Rick Hasen, a professor of electoral law at the University of California-Irvine, tweeted last night.

“A lot of excitement on the first day of voting that led to long lines does not necessarily mean that there is a systemic problem. Let’s give it a few days. “

Georgia’s elections have drawn national scrutiny in recent years. That was renewed in June when the state’s primary elections were marred by long lines caused by equipment problems and high turnout, as well as the consolidation of polling places related to the coronavirus and a shortage of poll workers.

A flood of election-related lawsuits have been filed for judges to order changes.

A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit filed in August by Democrats asking him to order Georgia election officials to take steps to avoid long lines at the polls on Election Day.

US District Judge Michael Brown wrote today in an order that election officials appear to have taken steps to address the issues that previously caused long lines.

“It is possible, of course, that these measures ultimately prove insufficient and that long lines still emerge,” he wrote. “But that is not the point; no one, including this Court, can guarantee short lines.”