
By Milton Kirby – Atlanta, GA – November 4, 2024
Early voting ended on Friday, November 1st, in the battleground state of Georgia. Four million four thousand five hundred eighty-eight voters had cast ballots either by voting early or absentee by mail. With 55.3% turnout, Georgians cast 3,761,968 ballots during Early Voting and 242,620 ballots by mail.
As of Saturday morning, 92 Georgia counties have exceeded 50% turnout. This is unprecedented in Georgia’s history.
During Early Voting in 2018, 1,890,364 voters cast ballots. 2,697,822 cast ballots in 2020, and 2,289,933 cast ballots in 2022.
“This was the most successful early voting period in Georgia’s history because voters trusted the process,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “Four years of progress brought us here. We’re battle-tested and ready, regardless of what the critics say. And we’re going to hold those who interfere in our elections accountable.”

Statewide, reports of long lines were minimal. However, there were some reports of voters waiting in line for more than 30 minutes from a few popular voting locations in metro Atlanta areas. Now that early voting has ended, voters who have not yet cast their ballot should confirm their polling location on My Voter Page and cast a ballot on Tuesday, November 5th.
According to TargetSmart, 76,183,090 votes have been cast as early in-person or mail-in. 41% of those votes cast were by registered democrats, 39% registered republicans and 20% other.
As Election Day nears, millions of voters have already cast their ballots nationwide.
According to data from the University of Florida’s Election Lab, whether through mail-in ballots or early in-person polling stations, more than 70 million Americans, roughly 44% of the 2020 turnout, had voted against standing in line on Election Day as of Friday afternoon.
Academic experts, reporters, and pundits have been going through basic and limited data gleaned from the early voting numbers, trying to get clues about tomorrow’s outcome.
A flip in the ways people vote early
Voting trends have shown that more people have been choosing to cast their ballots before Election Day, and this has increased in numbers over the last 30 years, but 2020 turned out to be a major outlier.
In the last presidential election, 69% of the 158 million total votes were cast before Election Day either through the mail, which included mail ballots dropped off in person, or at early voting poll sites, according to data from the Michigan Institute of Technology.
According to the data, some 43% of the 2020 early votes came from mail ballots.
The shift in voting patterns is apparent in Georgia, which has seen record early voting numbers, with over 4 million ballots cast as of Saturday. According to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, roughly 92% of those were cast at in-person polling places and the rest via mail.
Some states, including swing states Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Arizona, only offer early voting through in-person absentee options. Under this option, a voter must request an absentee ballot, fill it out, and deposit it in a ballot box or at a designated location. They are counted as a mail ballot voter.
US News has labeled seven states as Swing States during the 2024 election cycle.
Those states are listed below with their respective electoral votes:
Arizona 11, Georgia 16, Michigan 15, Nevada 6, North Carolina 16, Pennsylvania 19, and Wisconsin 10.
A total of 17,882,174 votes have been cast in these seven swing states. Of which, registered democrats have cast 40% or 7,179,095. Thirty-nine percent or 6,938,594 have been cast by registered republicans. The most astonishing fact in these swing states is that 21% of the votes cast were by other voters. They reinforce that the 2024 presidential election will be decided by independent voters and the candidates’ ability to connect with and convince those independent voters that their plan and road map for the country is the best direction in which to go.