Polls open for Senate runoffs in Ga.
Lines for early voting shorter than previously
ATLANTA — Early in-person voting began Monday in the runoff elections for Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats, with lines reported to be shorter than in the first days of early voting for the general election last month.
More than half of the record 5 million votes in the Nov. 3 general election were cast during its three-week early voting period. Early in-person voting could be even more important in the Jan. 5 runoffs because of the short period for voters to request and return ballots by mail.
The two races, in which Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff try to oust Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively, will decide which party controls the U.S. Senate.
No one expects turnout to be as high as it was for the general election. But Bernard Fraga, an Emory University professor who studies voting, said overall turnout could reach 4 million.
President Donald Trump has relentlessly pushed baseless claims of widespread fraud in the general election, in which he lost in Georgia.
“What a fool Governor @Briankempga of Georgia is,” the president tweeted. “Could have been so easy, but now we have to do it the hard way. Demand this clown call a Special Session and open up signature verification, NOW. Otherwise, could be a bad day for two GREAT Senators on January 5th.”
One question was how many mailin ballots will be cast in the election. By Friday, 1.2 million mail-in ballots had been requested and 200,000 returned. In the general election, Democrat Joe Biden won 65 percent of the 1.3 million absentee ballots that were returned in Georgia, a record fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.
Fraga said it’s possible that mailed ballots will be even more favorable for Democrats in the runoff because of attacks on the integrity of mail-in voting by Trump and many Georgia Republicans.
That means early in-person voting, which Trump narrowly won in November, could be even more important for Republicans.
Republican attacks on mail-in voting also worry some Democrats.
Meghan Shannon, 36, voted in person for Ossoff and Warnock on Monday at State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta, partly driven by fears that absentee ballots will be overly scrutinized.
“I think the absentee ballots are going to be questioned when they count the votes,” the architect said. “I wanted to be here in person so my vote is counted and it’s uncontested.”
Melissa Mcjunkin cast her ballot for Perdue and Loeffler. She’d heard allegations of voter fraud in the general election and was a bit worried about the integrity of the runoff vote.
Towanda Jones voted in downtown Atlanta for Ossoff and Warnock and dismissed the fraud allegations, which have been repeatedly denied by election officials.
“The system is working as it should, and I think our current president is just a sore loser,” she said.