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WASHINGTON: More than 1.1 million Georgians have voted in the second round elections of the US Senate, which will determine which party controls that chamber of Congress and, with it, the fate of much of the president-elect’s agenda Democrat Joe Biden, state data showed on Friday (Dec. 18). ).
The increase in turnout after four days of early voting in person, and about four weeks of voting by mail, showed that voter turnout in the two races is on track to rival the records set in the presidential race of November in which Biden defeated the Republican. Acting Donald Trump.
State data released Friday showed the number of accepted ballots was just below the level seen at the same point in early voting for the November elections.
The voting in the second round of the Senate, which takes place because no candidate won 50 percent of support on November 3, ends on January 5.
READ: Hundreds of people line up to vote in the Georgia elections that will establish control of the US Senate.
Biden’s victory in Georgia last month, amid record turnout, underscored the transformation of the southern state from a Republican stronghold to one of the most competitive political battlefields in the country.
A record 159 million people across the country voted in November, up from 138 million in the November 2016 election, according to data compiled by Michael McDonald, a political scientist at the University of Florida. He estimated that nearly 67 percent of eligible American voters voted last month, the highest proportion since 1900.
Signs of high turnout in Georgia’s January Senate races point to another gaudy, analysts said.
“This will be a very close election,” said McDonald, who is following early voting in Georgia.
He said that comparing current participation with the November cycle is difficult. Voters may have been filling the polls to finish voting before the December holidays.
“It seems to me that we are in for an election with a larger turnout than a typical runoff election,” McDonald said.
DEMOCRATS NEED TO BARRER
Democrats must win both races to achieve a 50-50 split in the Senate, giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tiebreaker vote. Even a Democratic defeat would allow Republicans to maintain a very small majority that they could use to block many of Biden’s legislative goals and judicial nominees.
The second round will pit Democratic rivals Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff against Republican incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively. Perdue won more votes than Ossoff in November, while Warnock won more than Loeffler in a field of 20 candidates that also included Republican Congressman Doug Collins. Together, Loeffler and Collins got nearly 46 percent of the vote.
READ: Biden and McConnell speak after top Senate Republican acknowledges Democrats’ election victory
Ballots accepted through Thursday were just shy of the 1.2 million that were cast at the same time as the November elections, when turnout finally totaled about 5 million votes.
Approximately 2 million votes were cast in the last runoff for a Senate seat in Georgia, when Republican Saxby Chambliss defeated Democrat Jim Martin in 2008. Nearly 4 million Georgians voted in the 2018 midterm legislative elections .
Republicans have often performed better in low turnout elections. But voters in both parties appear to be buoyed by what is at stake in the January race and each party has invested resources in Georgia before the second round.
Biden returned to the election campaign Tuesday to support Warnock and Ossoff in Georgia, and Harris will campaign for Democrats there on Monday. Trump, who has refused to admit he lost the November election, has also campaigned in Georgia for Perdue and Loeffler.
Republicans argue that maintaining control of the Senate will help prevent Washington from veering sharply to the left under Biden.
But Trump’s turnout in the races, and his unsubstantiated claims that Biden won because of widespread voter fraud, could be driving high turnout among Democrats, according to Jessica Taylor, an analyst at Cook Political Report, who views the races for the Senate as an escape for either one. side.
“It’s not just the Republicans who are excited to come out and maintain a firewall in the Senate, but the Democrats (who say) we beat Trump and he still won’t resign,” Taylor said.
