Registered Georgia voters can begin casting their ballots in person for the state’s two Senate runoff elections that will decide the chamber’s balance of power in the next Congress.
Georgia residents had until last Monday to register before select polling stations opened early ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs between incumbent Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively.
People can also vote by mail as COVID-19 drives people away from crowds.
Voting in Georgia’s runoffs starts as President Trump continues to allege fraud in his contest last month against President-elect Joe Biden.
Turnout will be critical in the races. Republicans historically outperform Democrats in runoff participation.
Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate, is confident her party can buck that trend, given that 1.2 million absentee ballots have been requested. Only 1.3 million were requested for the Nov. 3 elections.
“Of that 1.2 million, 85,000 of those applications are from voters who did not vote in the general election, and they are disproportionately between the ages of 18 and 29 and disproportionately people of color,” Abrams told CNN on Sunday.
GOP strategists have worried that Trump’s fraud complaints may discourage Republicans from voting. Loeffler dismissed those concerns Monday morning.
“The president came here last week and urged voters to exercise their right, and it’s vitally important that we do that because Georgia is the firewall to socialism,” she said. “We have to hold the line here, not just for Georgia, but the entire future of the country rests on these races, and we have to hold the Senate majority.”
Republicans currently have a majority, 50-48, in the Senate that will be sworn in on Jan. 3. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be able to break any ties once she takes her oath of office on Jan. 20.
