That is the primary in a collection of state-by-state previews of the 2024 election.
Georgia voters are as soon as once more anticipated to play a pivotal position within the presidential election on Nov. 5, whilst many are specializing in recovering and rebuilding from the devastating results of Hurricane Helene.
Each Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump have visited Georgia in latest weeks to survey the harm and meet with affected residents and native officers. The precise magnitude of Helene’s impression on the election, together with on the state’s voting infrastructure, is tough to evaluate and received’t possible be absolutely understood till after Election Day.
Georgia nonetheless stays one of many high prizes within the presidential election. The state performed a key position in 2020, when Joe Biden grew to become the primary Democratic presidential candidate to hold the state since Invoice Clinton in 1992. Biden defeated Trump in Georgia by lower than 1 / 4 of a share level, a margin of 11,779 votes.
Trump’s efforts to overturn these outcomes are on the coronary heart of an ongoing prison case in Fulton County, though it’s presently on maintain whereas the previous president’s authorized group pursues a pre-trial attraction to have District Legal professional Fani Willis faraway from the case and the indictment tossed. The Georgia Courtroom of Appeals will hear these arguments after the election. Willis is in search of one other time period as Fulton County’s high prosecutor and can seem on the November poll, dealing with Republican lawyer Courtney Kramer.
Georgia’s governor and U.S. senators are usually not up for election this 12 months, whereas all 14 U.S. Home seats are usually not thought of aggressive. Within the state Legislature, the place Republicans management each chambers, all 56 state Senate and 180 state Home seats are up for election. Democrats hope to chip away on the Republican majorities however haven’t listed the Georgia Legislature as a high goal in November, as they’ve in a handful of different states.
Right here’s a have a look at what to anticipate within the 2024 election in Georgia:
Election Day
Nov. 5.
Ballot closing time
7 p.m. ET.
Presidential electoral votes
16 awarded to statewide winner.
Key races and candidates
President: Harris (D) vs. Trump (R) vs. Chase Oliver (Libertarian) vs. Jill Stein (Inexperienced).
Different races of curiosity
U.S. Home, Atlanta Judicial Circuit District Legal professional, state Senate, state Home and poll measures.
Resolution Notes
Georgia state legislation permits county elections officers to start tabulating mail ballots at 7 a.m. on Election Day. Consequently, the primary votes reported on election evening will embody a lot of those mail ballots in addition to early in-person votes. Total, these ballots have tended to favor Democrats, ever because the subject of early and mail voting grew to become extremely politicized through the 2020 election. This means that the Democratic candidate in a aggressive contest may take an early lead within the vote depend within the preliminary vote stories after polls shut, although the race might tighten significantly as extra votes are tabulated.
Within the 2022 U.S. Senate race, for instance, Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock took a lead of about 40 share factors over Republican Herschel Walker after the primary batches of votes had been launched after polls closed, however the vote margin dipped to beneath 1 share level after about two hours and remained there for the remainder of the depend and thru certification. Mail and early in-person votes accounted for about 64% of all ballots in that election.
In September, Georgia’s State Election Board adopted a brand new rule requiring ballot employees handy depend the variety of paper ballots solid at their polling web site. Critics frightened the last-minute rule change may create chaos in native elections places of work and considerably delay the vote-counting course of. A Fulton County Superior Courtroom decide blocked the rule in October.
In statewide elections, Republicans are inclined to carry out finest within the smaller, extra rural counties within the northern, central, and southeastern areas of the state, whereas Democrats publish their finest numbers within the inhabitants facilities of Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, Savannah and Athens.
Particularly, the counties within the Atlanta space usually are very important to a statewide victory however for various causes. Fulton and DeKalb are overwhelmingly Democratic, giving Biden 73% and 83% of the vote in 2020. Hillary Clinton additionally carried each counties overwhelmingly in 2016 however with 69% and 81% of the vote, respectively. She misplaced Georgia to Trump.
Cobb and Gwinnett counties are extra aggressive however have each swung Democratic in latest elections. Barack Obama misplaced each counties in each of his campaigns, whereas Clinton narrowly carried the 2 with 49% and 51% of the vote, respectively. Biden did significantly higher in 2020, profitable 56% and 59% of the vote within the two counties. Trump doesn’t must win the counties to win the state, so long as he can maintain Harris to Clinton 2016 ranges somewhat than to Biden 2020 ranges.
The Related Press doesn’t make projections and can declare a winner solely when it has decided there isn’t a situation that might enable the trailing candidates to shut the hole. If a race hasn’t been referred to as, the AP will proceed to cowl any newsworthy developments, like candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will clarify it hasn’t declared a winner and clarify why.
There may be no automated recount provision in Georgia, however a shedding candidate might request a recount if the margin is lower than or equal to 0.5% of the whole vote. The AP might declare a winner in a race that’s eligible for a recount if it might decide the lead is simply too giant for a recount or authorized problem to alter the end result.
Previous presidential outcomes
2020: Biden (D) 49.5%, Trump (R) 49.3%, AP race name: Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, 7:58 p.m. ET.
Voter registration and turnout
Registered voters: 8,243,104 (as of Oct. 17, 2024).
Voter turnout in 2020 presidential election: 65% of registered voters.
Pre-Election Day voting
Votes solid earlier than Election Day 2020: about 80% of the whole vote.
Votes solid earlier than Election Day 2022: about 64% of the whole vote.
Votes solid earlier than Election Day 2024: See AP Advance Vote tracker.
How lengthy does vote-counting take?
First votes reported, Nov. 3, 2020: 7:20 p.m. ET.
By midnight ET: about 77% of complete votes solid had been reported.
