Politics & Government
GA Elections: 2.5 Million Vote In Advance, Perdue Quarantines
2.5 million-plus vote early; Sen. David Perdue quarantines; and President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump to rally on Monday.
GEORGIA — As Georgia enters its final day of advance voting, more than 2.5 million ballots have already been cast ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff.
The office of Georgia’s secretary of state told CNN that 2,570,593 early votes had been cast as of Wednesday: 1,713,950 in person and 856,643 via absentee ballot. Nearly 1.4 million absentee ballots have been requested so far.
On Monday, both parties are sending their heaviest hitters — their 2020 presidential candidates — to support their candidates for U.S. Senate.
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President-elect Joe Biden will appear in Atlanta on Monday, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will stump in Savannah on Sunday. Both are campaigning in support of Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Perdue Goes Into COVID Quarantine
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U.S. Sen. David Perdue's campaign announced Thursday that he and his wife are going into quarantine after being exposed to a staffer with COVID-19. Neither Perdue nor his wife have tested positive yet for the coronavirus.
"In accordance with CDC guidelines, they will quarantine," read the Perdue statement released Thursday afternoon to social media. "The Senator and his wife have been tested regularly throughout the campaign, and the team will continue to follow CDC guidelines."
Perdue's quarantine comes at a particularly inopportune moment. Locked in a tight runoff race with Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, Perdue will have to sit out a joint campaign event with U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler planned for Thursday night, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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Advance Voters Wait In Cold Rain To Cast Ballots
Gwinnett was one of a number of Georgia counties offering advance voting on New Year’s Eve, and residents took advantage of it.
Outside Gwinnett’s election headquarters in a Lawrenceville shopping center, several dozen voters were seen early Thursday afternoon, waiting in the rain to cast ballots. Those who spoke with Patch framed the election in a bigger picture than Georgia.
“We know it’s for control of the Senate,” said Kavien Hillmon of Lawrenceville. “It’s really important that we win the Senate back and we fire Mitch McConnell.”
While a county worker passed out clipboards to speed the voting process, a woman with a wagon passed out free beverages and ponchos to waiting voters. “They love it,” said Keshia Walker of South Fulton, who said she represented the Georgia Election Senate Committee.
Not everybody had such a smooth wait. WAGA-TV in Atlanta reported that some Cobb County voters had to wait as long as two hours.
“This is my third time coming back,” Carolyn Corley told the Atlanta news station Thursday. “I think in the middle of the day around the lunch hour is extremely busy. I luckily had the flexibility to choose.”
Several of the Cobb County voters told the WAGA-TV reporter they were skeptical of the integrity of Georgia’s election.
"It definitely had an impact on why I decided to come out and vote in person for sure, because I just didn't want to be suspect" Cobb County resident Stephen Bowser said to WAGA-TV.
Fulton County closed its early voting Wednesday with close to 330,000 ballots cast.
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