Infrequent voters are casting a growing share of Georgia’s early ballots as early voting nears its end. They cast 18.6% of Wednesday’s ballots, against 15.1% on the matching 2022 day. On the first four weekdays, their share ran within a point of 2022’s. Newly registered voters still trail their 2022 count, but the percentage gap is closing. Georgia should pass 2022’s final early-vote count on Friday, the last day of early voting.
Explore daily counts by county and voter group on the Georgia Early Voting Dashboard.
Infrequent Voters Are a Growing Share of the Early Vote
Infrequent voters have run further above their 2022 share on every weekday since Oct. 14. Their share reached 18.6% on Wednesday, 3.5 points above the matching 2022 day. On the first four weekdays, the gap never topped 0.6 points.
Infrequent voters added 10,991 ballots over the matching 2022 Wednesday, the most of any day. That is 34.4% of Georgia’s gain over 2022 on Wednesday. Their running total is 62,826 ballots ahead of 2022 (+27.9%).
Infrequent voters’ share of the day’s ballots has run further above 2022 on every weekday since Oct. 14, reaching 3.48 points on Wednesday
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Each bar is infrequent voters’ share of the day’s accepted early ballots, all methods, minus their share on the day with the same number of days until Election Day in 2022. Infrequent voters voted in one or neither of the last two November elections. Weekends are left out.
Frequent voters no longer make up a larger share of the early vote than in 2022. On Oct. 16, their share of the running total ran 1.9 points above 2022. It now matches 2022 at 79.1%, or 1,826,116 ballots. Frequent voters still added 20,232 ballots over the matching 2022 Wednesday.
Voters with no record in any of the last four elections more than doubled their 2022 count on Wednesday, from a small base. They cast 5,421 ballots, against 2,560 on the matching 2022 day. That is 3.1% of Wednesday’s ballots.
How to read this table: shaded rows are the three main groups, with the voting-history patterns inside them indented below. Each voter is in exactly one row.
| Group | Wed., Oct. 28 | Matching 2022 Wednesday | Ballots added | Change | Share of Wednesday’s ballots | Same share, 2022 | Share of running total | Same share, 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent voters | 125,440 | 105,208 | +20,232 | +19.2% | 70.7% | 72.4% | 79.1% | 79.1% |
| Voted in all four | 29,539 | 35,735 | −6,196 | −17.3% | 16.7% | 24.6% | 28.7% | 38.5% |
| Both Novembers, one primary | 43,174 | 39,263 | +3,911 | +10.0% | 24.3% | 27.0% | 27.9% | 26.2% |
| Both Novembers, no primaries | 52,727 | 30,210 | +22,517 | +74.5% | 29.7% | 20.8% | 22.5% | 14.4% |
| Infrequent voters | 32,928 | 21,937 | +10,991 | +50.1% | 18.6% | 15.1% | 12.5% | 10.7% |
| One November, no primaries | 20,155 | 11,275 | +8,880 | +78.8% | 11.4% | 7.8% | 7.0% | 4.6% |
| One November, one primary | 5,846 | 5,946 | −100 | −1.7% | 3.3% | 4.1% | 2.9% | 3.3% |
| One November, both primaries | 719 | 1,578 | −859 | −54.4% | 0.4% | 1.1% | 0.5% | 1.3% |
| Primaries only | 787 | 578 | +209 | +36.2% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| None of the four | 5,421 | 2,560 | +2,861 | +111.8% | 3.1% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 1.1% |
| Registered too recently to tell | 18,678 | 18,218 | +460 | +2.5% | 10.5% | 12.5% | 8.4% | 10.2% |
| Other | 269 | 10 | +259 | – | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
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Accepted early ballots, all methods, against the day or running total with the same number of days until Election Day in 2022. The four elections are the last two November general elections and the last two primaries: for 2026, the 2022 and 2024 Novembers and the 2024 and 2026 primaries; for 2022, the 2018 and 2020 Novembers and the 2020 and 2022 primaries. Each voter is in exactly one row. No change is shown where 2022 had fewer than 100 ballots. Bars stop at ±120%.
Who the Infrequent Voters Are
Infrequent voters who have voted early this year are younger than in 2022, and far younger than frequent voters. Voters 18 to 34 cast 29.5% of infrequent voters’ ballots, against 21.2% at this point in 2022. Among frequent voters, their share is 7.4%.
Black voters make up a larger share of infrequent voters than in 2022, and white voters a smaller one. Black voters cast 38.7% of infrequent voters’ ballots, against 30.4% in 2022. White voters cast 114,611 of them, about two in five, down from more than half in 2022.
Hispanic voters’ and Asian voters’ shares grew fastest, from small bases. Hispanic voters cast 6.9% of infrequent voters’ ballots, against 2.3% in 2022. Asian voters cast 5.2%, against 2.8%. Women voters cast 57.1%, 164,261 ballots in all, up from 2022.
Infrequent voters who have voted early are younger and more often Black, Hispanic or Asian than in 2022
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Share of accepted early ballots, all methods, through Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026 and through the matching day of 2022, with age, race and sex as recorded on each year’s voter file. The label gives infrequent voters’ 2026 share and its change from 2022 in points. Infrequent voters voted in one or neither of the last two November elections; frequent voters voted in both. Shares within each block can fall short of 100% because other races and voters with no recorded race, age or sex are not shown.
How to read this table: each row is a group of voters, with its ballots and share among infrequent voters this year and at this point in 2022, and its share among frequent voters.
| Group | Infrequent voters’ ballots, 2026 | Share | Same, matching 2022 day | Share | Change in points | Share of frequent voters’ ballots, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | ||||||
| Voters 18 to 34 | 85,041 | 29.5% | 47,728 | 21.2% | +8.3 | 7.4% |
| Voters 35 to 54 | 94,884 | 33.0% | 72,211 | 32.1% | +0.9 | 24.3% |
| Voters 55 to 64 | 48,501 | 16.8% | 47,691 | 21.2% | −4.3 | 23.1% |
| Voters 65 and older | 59,473 | 20.7% | 57,427 | 25.5% | −4.9 | 45.3% |
| Race | ||||||
| Black voters | 111,494 | 38.7% | 68,413 | 30.4% | +8.3 | 31.6% |
| White voters | 114,611 | 39.8% | 120,462 | 53.5% | −13.7 | 56.6% |
| Hispanic voters | 19,876 | 6.9% | 5,224 | 2.3% | +4.6 | 2.2% |
| Asian voters | 15,039 | 5.2% | 6,193 | 2.8% | +2.5 | 2.1% |
| Sex | ||||||
| Women voters | 164,261 | 57.1% | 119,609 | 53.1% | +3.9 | 56.0% |
| Men voters | 123,141 | 42.8% | 105,042 | 46.7% | −3.9 | 43.9% |
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Accepted early ballots, all methods, running total through Oct. 28, 2026 and the matching day of 2022. Infrequent voters cast 287,899 ballots this year and 225,073 at this point in 2022. Bars stop at ±15 points.
Infrequent voters’ share of early ballots rose in 112 of Georgia’s 159 counties. It rose most in Whitfield County, from 11.3% to 17.6%. Gwinnett, Newton and Henry followed.
Infrequent voters’ share of early ballots rose in 112 of 159 counties, most in Whitfield, Gwinnett, Newton and Henry
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Infrequent voters’ share of each county’s accepted early ballots, all methods, through Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, minus the same share at the matching day of 2022, in percentage points. Small counties can swing on a few dozen ballots.
The rise is larger in the Metro Atlanta Core than in the rest of Georgia. Infrequent voters cast 13.3% of the core’s ballots, 2.3 points more than in 2022. In the rest of Georgia, they cast 11.9%, 1.4 points more.
| Area | Ballots from infrequent voters, 2026 | Share of the area’s ballots, 2026 | Same share, matching 2022 day | Change in points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro Atlanta Core | 122,295 | 13.3% | 11.0% | +2.3 |
| Rest of Georgia | 165,604 | 11.9% | 10.5% | +1.4 |
| Largest rises | ||||
| Whitfield | 1,952 | 17.6% | 11.3% | +6.3 |
| Gwinnett (core) | 30,409 | 15.8% | 11.2% | +4.7 |
| Newton | 3,978 | 15.5% | 11.1% | +4.4 |
| Henry | 8,822 | 13.4% | 9.6% | +3.8 |
| Douglas | 4,796 | 13.8% | 10.3% | +3.5 |
| Bulloch | 1,507 | 13.5% | 10.0% | +3.5 |
| Richmond | 4,506 | 13.7% | 10.3% | +3.4 |
| Rockdale | 3,135 | 13.2% | 9.9% | +3.4 |
| Clayton (core) | 9,148 | 16.0% | 12.8% | +3.3 |
| Bibb | 3,751 | 13.3% | 10.2% | +3.1 |
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Accepted early ballots, all methods, running total through Oct. 28, 2026 and the matching day of 2022. The county list covers the 77 counties with at least 500 ballots from infrequent voters this year. Bars stop at ±8 points.
Newly Registered Voters Are Closing Their Gap With 2022
Newly registered voters still trail their 2022 count, but the percentage gap has narrowed every day since Oct. 19. They have cast 79,283 ballots so far, 10,223 fewer than at this point in 2022. That shortfall is 11.4%, down from 21.6% on Oct. 19.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, newly registered voters cast more ballots than on the matching 2022 days. It was the first time on a weekday since opening day. Their share of Wednesday’s ballots still ran 0.9 points below 2022.
Newly registered voters’ shortfall against 2022 has narrowed from 21.6% on Oct. 19 to 11.4%
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Each bar is newly registered voters’ accepted early ballots through that day, all methods, against the running total on the day with the same number of days until Election Day in 2022. Newly registered voters were first registered after the last presidential election. Early voting began 21 days before Election Day in 2026 and 22 days before in 2022, so the first days set a short 2026 count against a longer 2022 one.
Georgia has about as many newly registered voters as in 2022, so the difference is in how many have voted. There are 563,335 of them, against 561,834 in 2022. So far 14.1% of all of them, active and inactive, have voted early, against 15.9% at this point in 2022.
Georgia Should Pass 2022’s Total on Friday
Georgia should pass 2022’s final early-vote count on Friday, Oct. 30, the last day of early voting. It has accepted 2,308,770 ballots through Wednesday, 91.0% of 2022’s total. Passing it on Thursday would take 227,545 ballots in one day. That is 30,682 more than Georgia accepted on opening day, its busiest day so far.
The dashboard’s projection crosses the mark on Friday. Only the high end of its range gets there on Thursday.
The projection passes 2022’s total on Friday, Oct. 30; only its high end gets there Thursday
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Bars after Wednesday are the dashboard’s projected running total for each day, with whiskers for its 80% range. Diamonds add 2022’s accepted ballots on the matching days (Nov. 3 and 4, 2022) to Georgia’s total through Oct. 28, 2026. 2022’s total includes 27,674 mail ballots accepted after its early voting ended.
Wednesday Ran 22.0% Ahead of 2022
Wednesday’s gain over 2022 was the second largest on any weekday since the first week, behind only Tuesday. Georgia accepted 177,315 early ballots, against 145,373 on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. Tuesday now stands 28.7% ahead of its matching 2022 day. The matching 2022 Wednesday was busier than the matching Tuesday, so the same turnout counts as a smaller gain.
Wednesday ran 22.0% ahead of the matching 2022 Wednesday, second only to Tuesday since the first week
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Accepted early ballots, all methods, on each weekday of early voting against the day with the same number of days until Election Day in 2022. Early voting began Oct. 13, 2026, 21 days before Election Day, and Oct. 17, 2022, 22 days before, so each first-week day of 2026 is set against a later, busier day of 2022’s first week.
The Metro Atlanta Core1 again ran further ahead of 2022 than the rest of Georgia. The core ran 26.2% ahead on Wednesday. The rest of Georgia ran 19.4% ahead.
1 The Metro Atlanta Core counties are Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Clayton and Gwinnett, part of the 29-county Atlanta metropolitan area as defined by the Census Bureau’s July 2023 delineation. The rest of Georgia is the other 154 counties. Back to text
How to read this table: each row is a weekday, with ballots outside and inside the core and the change from the matching 2022 day.
| Day | Rest of Georgia, 2026 | Matching 2022 day | Change | Metro Atlanta Core, 2026 | Matching 2022 day | Change | Georgia, change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon., Oct. 19 | 103,385 | 96,870 | +6.7% | 62,994 | 57,259 | +10.0% | +7.9% |
| Tue., Oct. 20 | 97,077 | 86,748 | +11.9% | 62,129 | 49,820 | +24.7% | +16.6% |
| Wed., Oct. 21 | 87,593 | 85,143 | +2.9% | 55,889 | 47,921 | +16.6% | +7.8% |
| Thu., Oct. 22 | 84,475 | 79,185 | +6.7% | 52,373 | 45,709 | +14.6% | +9.6% |
| Fri., Oct. 23 | 102,042 | 96,007 | +6.3% | 63,647 | 54,235 | +17.4% | +10.3% |
| Mon., Oct. 26 | 109,472 | 94,414 | +15.9% | 66,498 | 54,730 | +21.5% | +18.0% |
| Tue., Oct. 27 | 106,995 | 84,755 | +26.2% | 66,208 | 49,775 | +33.0% | +28.7% |
| Wed., Oct. 28 | 107,010 | 89,646 | +19.4% | 70,305 | 55,727 | +26.2% | +22.0% |
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Accepted early ballots, all methods. The Metro Atlanta Core is Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Clayton and Gwinnett; the rest of Georgia is the other 154 counties. Tuesday and Wednesday ran ahead of every weekday of the week before in both areas.
66 Counties Still Trail 2022
The number of counties behind their 2022 pace fell again on Wednesday, to 66 of 159. Banks, Crisp, Emanuel, Habersham, Heard, Lowndes, Madison and Turner moved ahead of 2022. Sumter slipped back behind, by 14 ballots.
The counties still behind are short 10,081 ballots together. Toombs, Ware and Rabun trail by the most. None of the five core counties is behind.
The core’s share of Georgia’s early vote stays above its 2022 share. The five core counties hold 39.7% of ballots so far, 1.4 points more than at this point in 2022. Gwinnett has added the most ballots over 2022 of any county, 36,465.
| County | Ballots through Oct. 28, 2026 | Matching 2022 day | Difference | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toombs | 4,091 | 4,729 | −638 | −13.5% |
| Ware | 4,952 | 5,551 | −599 | −10.8% |
| Rabun | 5,099 | 5,677 | −578 | −10.2% |
| Decatur | 4,115 | 4,664 | −549 | −11.8% |
| Jefferson | 2,402 | 2,910 | −508 | −17.5% |
| Candler | 1,794 | 2,121 | −327 | −15.4% |
| Coffee | 5,889 | 6,173 | −284 | −4.6% |
| Ben Hill | 2,932 | 3,213 | −281 | −8.7% |
| Chattooga | 3,224 | 3,502 | −278 | −7.9% |
| Mitchell | 3,038 | 3,276 | −238 | −7.3% |
| All 66 counties behind | 178,801 | 188,882 | −10,081 | – |
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Accepted early ballots, all methods, running total through Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026 against the total through Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The ten counties with the largest shortfalls are shown; the other 56 counties behind 2022 trail by fewer ballots. Bars stop at ±20%.
How Our Wednesday Forecast Did
Wednesday landed inside our forecast range for Georgia, the core and the rest of the state. Georgia’s ballots came in 10,063 above our central estimate.
| Area | Our range, published Oct. 28 | Central estimate | Accepted Wednesday, Oct. 28 | Against the central estimate | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro Atlanta Core | 60,651 to 76,430 | 66,763 | 70,305 | +3,542 | Inside the range |
| Rest of Georgia | 87,606 to 117,380 | 100,663 | 107,010 | +6,347 | Inside the range |
| Georgia | 148,908 to 193,689 | 167,252 | 177,315 | +10,063 | Inside the range |
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Accepted early ballots, all methods, as of the file of Oct. 29.
Five Voter Groups Against 2022
Voters 18 to 34 ran further above their 2022 share on Wednesday than on any weekday so far. Their share of Wednesday’s ballots was 2.41 points above 2022. They added 9,984 ballots over the matching 2022 Wednesday, the most of any day.
Voters 18 to 34 ran 2.41 points above their 2022 share on Wednesday, their widest weekday gap yet
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Each bar is voters 18 to 34’s share of the day’s accepted early ballots, all methods, minus their share on the day with the same number of days until Election Day in 2022. Weekends are left out; voters 18 to 34 cast a larger share of weekend ballots in both years.
The other four groups held their course. Black women voters, white women voters, Hispanic voters and Asian voters all stayed ahead of 2022 on Wednesday, each by a smaller percentage than on Tuesday.
How to read this table: each row is a group of voters. Rows are sorted by ballots added over the matching 2022 Wednesday. The columns give the change from 2022 on each of the last three days and for the running total.
| Group | Ballots added, Wed., Oct. 28 | Ballots added, running total through Oct. 28 | Change, Mon., Oct. 26 | Change, Tue., Oct. 27 | Change, Wed., Oct. 28 | Change, running total | Share of Wednesday’s ballots | Share of matching 2022 Wednesday’s ballots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All voters | +31,942 | +211,390 | +18.0% | +28.7% | +22.0% | +10.1% | – | – |
| Black women voters | +10,451 | +86,255 | +47.2% | +53.5% | +42.9% | +22.8% | 19.6% | 16.8% |
| Voters 18 to 34 | +9,984 | +73,906 | +36.0% | +47.9% | +38.4% | +30.2% | 20.3% | 17.9% |
| White women voters | +5,183 | +11,466 | +8.2% | +18.6% | +11.0% | +1.8% | 29.4% | 32.3% |
| Hispanic voters | +4,125 | +41,716 | +134.1% | +147.1% | +123.7% | +114.8% | 4.2% | 2.3% |
| Asian voters | +2,384 | +26,245 | +86.8% | +89.6% | +72.0% | +69.1% | 3.2% | 2.3% |
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Accepted early ballots, all methods, against the day or running total with the same number of days until Election Day in 2022; age, race and sex as recorded on each year’s voter file. Ballots added are 2026 ballots minus 2022 ballots. Groups overlap. Bars stop at +60%; Hispanic voters’ and Asian voters’ larger gains run past that mark. Every group ran ahead of 2022 on all three days, by a smaller percentage on Wednesday than on Tuesday.