Strong early vote turnout continues

Dec. 1—Glynn County voters continue to show up to the polls for early voting in the Dec. 6 U.S. Senate runoff between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

The Golden Isles is mirroring the record-setting trend seen across the state in a race with national implications. A Walker win creates a 50-50 split between both parties in the senate, while a Warnock win gives Democrats a 51-49 majority.

At 6 p.m., an hour before polling places closed, Christina Redden, assistant supervisor of the Glynn County Board of Elections & Registration, said 2,813 voters showed up to one of the three early voting polling places on Wednesday to cast a vote. On Monday, 2,972 people cast early votes, followed by 3,174 votes cast Tuesday.

The afternoon rain did little to dampen the turnout. Redden said people stood in groups out of the rain and used some sort of honor system to know when it was their turn to enter the polling places to vote.

"Everybody seemed to know who the next person was," she said.

Redden said it was difficult to predict if the strong early voting turnout means a slow day on Dec. 6.

The statewide totals as of Wednesday morning were 770,745 for in-person early voting, according to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State.

"Georgia is a national leader in voter access and security," he said. "We are having historic levels of turnout and those who want to vote — we believe this level of voter participation is excellent, and we'll keep working with counties to encourage them to open more early voting locations in the future."

While long lines have been reported in the metro Atlanta area, the longest waits at polling places in the Golden Isles have been around 30 minutes. By late afternoon, the lines dwindle and there are no waits to check in and cast a vote.

Today and Friday are the last days to cast an early ballot.

Glynn County's three early voting polling places are at the main Glynn County Board of Elections Office, 1815 Gloucester St., Brunswick; St. Simons Fire Station No. 2, 1929 Demere Road.; and the Ballard Community Building, 30 Nimitz Drive, Brunswick.

All three locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. both days.