Last week’s primary election in Georgia was a mess.
New computerized voting machines didn’t work as expected or were confusing to use. Many poll workers stayed home, fearing the coronavirus. Far fewer polling places were open than planned. Long, slow lines of voters stretched for blocks in some places.
And yet Democrats persisted.
“Democrats set a new turnout record for primary voting in last week’s Georgia vote, soaring past 1 million voters to outpace Republicans,” reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Some ballots are still being tallied, but the latest results show that despite the obstacles, the Democratic turnout topped that of the previous record — the 2008 presidential primary, when Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton.
“Georgia Democrats pointed to the high numbers as another sign of voter enthusiasm headed into the November election,” the Journal-Constitution says. “Joe Biden aims to be the first Democratic presidential contender to carry Georgia since 1992, and state Democrats are racing to flip two U.S. Senate seats and a suburban U.S. House seat.”
The Democratic turnout eclipsed that of the GOP, in part because Republicans knew President Trump will be the GOP nominee and because there was no competitive statewide race on their ballot.
“The turnout numbers soared mainly due to a surge in absentee ballots after an expansion of mail-in voting ordered by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, amid coronavirus restrictions,” the Journal-Constitution says. “A review showed those mail-in ballots were roughly split between Democrats and Republicans.”
