With 20 days until Election Day, Georgia has accepted 14.1% fewer early ballots than at the same point before the 2022 election, and mail ballots are down about two-thirds. In-person voting has not made up the difference yet. However, by this point in 2022 voters had already had one more day of in-person voting, and against 2022 one day earlier, this year is 28.1% ahead.
Through Wednesday, Oct. 14, Georgia had accepted 380,945 early ballots, compared with 443,662 on Oct. 19, 2022, which was also 20 days until Election Day. Compared with 2024, a presidential year, this year’s count is 39.7% lower.
- At 20 days until Election Day, in-person and mail ballots are both behind 2022, so in-person voting has not yet made up for the mail drop.
- Allowing for 2022’s extra day of in-person voting, in-person ballots are well ahead of 2022 and more than cover the mail drop.
- Mail voting keeps shrinking. Its share of early ballots fell from 2022 to 2024 and has fallen faster this year.
- Early voters again resemble a midterm electorate: older and with a larger Black share than in 2024, slightly more so than in 2022.
- Voters 35 to 64 make up a smaller share of early ballots than in either 2022 or 2024, a change from both elections.
In-person voting has not yet covered the mail shortfall
At 20 days until Election Day, in-person voting has not made up for the missing mail ballots. Georgia has 32,855 fewer in-person ballots than at the same point in 2022 and 30,757 fewer mail ballots. Electronic ballots, a small category, are up 895.
Against 2022 one day earlier, at 21 days until Election Day, when it also had two days of in-person voting, Georgia is 28.1% ahead. It has 94,935 more in-person ballots than that 2022 count and 12,303 fewer mail ballots, an in-person gain almost eight times the mail loss.
At 20 days until Election Day, Georgia has fewer in-person and mail ballots than in 2022
Scroll horizontally to see the full chart.
Accepted early ballots. All bars use the same scale. Electronic ballots, under 1% of the total, are not shown.
2022 had one more day of in-person voting
In 2022, in-person early voting began on Monday, Oct. 17, 22 days until Election Day. This year it began on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 21 days until Election Day, as it did in 2024 on Oct. 15. So at 20 days until Election Day, 2022 had three days of in-person voting and 2026 has two. The third day in 2022, Oct. 19, alone added 146,355 ballots, more than this year’s entire shortfall of 62,717.
In 2022, roughly 130,000 to 135,000 Georgians voted in person on each of the first two days, as the Secretary of State reported at the time. This year, 190,387 in-person ballots were accepted on Tuesday and 174,283 on Wednesday. Wednesday’s total of 178,560 ballots was 9.2% below Tuesday’s, a dip 2024 also had on its second day of in-person voting.
Georgia’s early vote has trailed 2022’s at each point since in-person voting began
Scroll horizontally to see the full chart.
2022 began in-person voting on Monday, Oct. 17, 22 days until Election Day; 2026 began on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 21 days until Election Day.
Mail ballots are down about two-thirds
Mail voting is continuing a decline that began after 2022, and the drop is steeper this time. With 20 days until Election Day, Georgia has accepted 14,297 mail ballots, 68.3% fewer than at the same point in 2022 and 62.4% fewer than in 2024. Mail makes up 3.8% of this year’s early ballots, down from 10.2% at this point in 2022 and 6.0% in 2024.
The 30,757 missing mail ballots equal 6.9% of the 443,662 ballots accepted at this point in 2022.
Atlanta Metro’s Democratic Core is 12% behind 2022 and the rest of the state 15% behind
Atlanta Metro’s Democratic Core, called the Core Counties here, is Clayton, DeKalb, Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties, the core Democratic vote-getting counties in Georgia; the other 154 counties are in the rest of the state. At 20 days until Election Day, the Core Counties have accepted 147,934 early ballots, 12.2% fewer than at the same point in 2022. The rest of the state has accepted 233,011, 15.3% fewer. The Core Counties’ share of the statewide early vote, 38.8%, is above 2022’s 38.0% and 2024’s 34.1%.
Turnout is higher in the Core Counties, as it was in 2022. There, 5.11% of all registered voters, active and inactive, have cast an accepted early ballot, compared with 4.37% in the rest of the state. At this point in 2022, the figures were 5.93% and 5.51%. In 2024, the Core Counties trailed, 7.29% to 7.88%.
In-person ballots are down 6.8% from 2022 in the Core Counties and 9.2% in the rest of the state. The Core Counties have accepted 887 mail ballots, 92.2% fewer than the 11,391 at this point in 2022. The rest of the state has accepted 13,410, 60.2% fewer, and accounts for 20,253 of the 30,757 mail ballots below the 2022 count.
Accepted early ballots are down 12.2% from 2022 in the Core Counties and 15.3% in the rest of the state
Scroll horizontally to see the full chart.
Change from 2022 at 20 days until Election Day (Oct. 14, 2026 and Oct. 19, 2022). Counts are 2026 vs 2022.
The early electorate resembles 2022’s
Georgia’s early voters in the 2022 midterm were older and a larger share Black than in the 2024 presidential election. This year sits on the midterm side of that pattern, slightly beyond 2022. Voters 65 and older cast 53.7% of accepted ballots through Oct. 14, more than at this point in either earlier election. Black voters cast 36.1%, compared with 34.5% in 2022 and 29.1% in 2024.
Voters 65 and older and Black voters make up a larger share of early ballots than in 2022 or 2024
Scroll horizontally to see the full chart.
Share of accepted early ballots at 20 days until Election Day: Oct. 19, 2022; Oct. 16, 2024; and Oct. 14, 2026.
Among all registered Black voters, active and inactive, 5.40% have cast an accepted early ballot, compared with 4.79% of all registered White voters. Black turnout also led at this point in 2022; in 2024, White turnout led.
Voters 35 to 64 are a smaller share of early ballots
Voters 35 to 64 cast 38.9% of early ballots this year, compared with 42.2% at this point in 2022 and 43.2% in 2024. At 20 days until Election Day, their ballots are 20.9% below 2022, and they account for more than 60% of the statewide shortfall.
What we are watching next
New data arrives each day on the Civic Forge Solutions 2026 Early Voting Dashboard. Thursday, Oct. 15, is 19 days until Election Day, matching Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022.
- Georgia trails 2022 by 62,717 ballots. 2022 added 138,363 on its matching Thursday, so a 2026 Thursday above that narrows the gap.
- In-person ballots fell from 190,387 on Tuesday to 174,283 on Wednesday. 2022’s matching Thursday brought 122,998 in person.
- Mail ballots fell from 5,940 on Tuesday to 4,146 on Wednesday. 2022’s matching Thursday brought 15,277.