Georgia primaries see record turnout

Published 2:00 pm Thursday, June 2, 2022

ATLANTA — In the first statewide election since rolling out Georgia’s new election laws, voters showed up in record numbers and the more strict absentee ballot process was put to the test.

The May 24 primary was the first major test as more than 94,000 absentee ballots were requested — more than 50,000 from Democrats and nearly 42,000 from Republicans.

Of the requests, nearly 42,000 Democrat ballots were cast and just over 37,000 Republican absentee ballots.

By comparison, in the May 2018 primary, 14,795 absentee ballots were cast in the Republican primary for governor and more than 13,000 Democrat ballots.

“Georgia’s May 24 primary witnessed historic levels of voter turnout and strong Democratic enthusiasm despite having no competitive races at the top of the ticket,” said representatives of Fair Fight Action, a national voting rights organization based in Georgia. “This record turnout follows years of dedicated organizing by activists on the ground, and suggests voters are more determined than ever to make their voices heard — even as voters experienced a series of problems stemming from anti-voter law SB 202.”

SB 202, which went into effect July 2021, implemented more requirements to request and submit an absentee ballot.

Prior to the new law, absentee ballots could be requested up until the Friday before Election Day.

Now voters have to request their ballot at least 11 days before the election. Also, a signature to be matched with signature verification was needed to return an absentee ballot.

Returned ballots are now required to have a driver’s license number or other forms of voter ID.

At the county level, Whitfield County reported only two absentee ballots rejected because they didn’t meet the 7 p.m. Election Day deadline.

Fifteen applications were rejected in Baldwin County due to being received after the shortened deadline

Colquitt County reports that no absentee ballots were rejected in the May 2022 primary, which saw a large percentage of submitted absentee ballots: 156 of 165 mail-in ballots for this election, compared to 112 received ballots out of the 173 that were mailed out in May 2018.

Though CNHI News is waiting to obtain final numbers regarding rejected absentee ballots, Fair Fight Action found that just ahead of the May 24 primary, nearly 3% of absentee ballot applications had been rejected, a rate seven times higher than in June 2020.

The group found that voters of color were disproportionately affected by high vote-by-mail application rejection rates. Black voters represented 32% of applications, but 44.7% of those whose applications were rejected.

Fair Fight further found that 14% of rejected applications were for identification or date of birth issues, 2% were rejected because the application was received too early and 51% because the application was received too late.

In the months following the passage of SB 202 last year, Fair Fight reports that only 39% of voters in November 2021 municipal elections whose applications were rejected voted successfully, meaning 61% of voters whose applications were rejected in that election were unable to successfully cast a ballot.

The real test of the new processes will come in the November General Election, which typically sees a much larger turnout. Despite the higher than normal absentee rejection rates for absentee ballots, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said, “The record-breaking turnout in our primaries proves that we have successfully balanced accessibility and security at the polls.

“It’s never been easier to vote in Georgia and voters can be assured that their vote is secure.”

Under SB 202, an extra mandatory Saturday was added to early voting days along with a Sunday voting day and longer polling place hours were optional for counties.

More than 857,000 voters cast a ballot during early voting or returned an absentee ballot. Compared to early-voting turnout in recent primaries, this represented a 168% increase over the 2018 (the last gubernatorial primary), and a 212% jump above 2020, the last presidential primary year, according to the Secretary of State’s office.