New York [US], October 16: Gabe Sterling, an official at the Georgia Elections Administration Office, announced on October 15 that about 252,000 voters had cast their ballots early, a surprising number. He said the record number on the first day of the election was recorded in 2020 with 136,000 voters.
According to CNN, Georgia is one of the closely watched swing states in this year's election, as former President Donald Trump is looking to win back after losing to Joe Biden by a narrow margin in 2020, leading to Trump's unsuccessful attempt to reverse his defeat.
That year, Mr. Biden won by 11,779 votes over Mr. Trump out of nearly 5 million ballots cast in Georgia.
This year, Republicans on the state Board of Elections passed sweeping changes to the way elections are conducted, prompting lawsuits from Democrats and others. Many of those lawsuits remain unresolved as Election Day approaches.
Some early voters said voting went more smoothly this year despite the crowds. "Last time I went to vote in the city, the line was really long and they only had three people (election workers) working," Corine Canada of Atlanta told CNN.
Many parts of the state are still recovering from Hurricane Helene. However, election officials say absentee ballots were mailed to voters on time and were not affected by the storm.
Experts say there are fewer drop-off boxes for mail-in ballots this year than four years ago, and other changes make voting by mail less convenient than voting in person.
Georgia's top election official, Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, said on October 15 that so far only 250,000 requests for absentee ballots have been received and that the number could increase to 300,000 next weeks. He estimated that the total could account for 5-6% of the total votes cast in the 2024 election.
US judge rules on ratification of results
State judges are considering multiple lawsuits over new rules passed by the Republican-majority State Board of Elections that Democrats say could cause post-election chaos.
In a court hearing on October 15, Fulton County District Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that state election officials must approve election results by a deadline set by law and cannot withhold approval of ballots even if they suspect errors or fraud.
According to ABC News, state law requires election officials to approve election results by 5 p.m. on the first Monday after Election Day, or Tuesday if Monday is a holiday.
Judge McBurney said that concerns by state election officials about fraud or systemic errors would be documented and shared with appropriate levels but that they were not grounds for officials to refuse to certify the results.
Both sides see Mr. McBurney's ruling as a legal victory, according to ABC News.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper