Georgia accepted 25,157 early ballots on Sunday, Oct. 18, 34.0% more than on the matching Sunday in 2022, and most of the gain came from four counties that held Sunday voting a week earlier than in 2022. Cobb, Henry, Forsyth and Newton accepted 5,291 Sunday ballots, more than 80% of the 6,388-ballot gain; in the rest of the state, Sunday’s count was 5.8% above 2022. Sunday widened Georgia’s lead over 2022 to 18,674 ballots and moved Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton, combined, just ahead of their 2022 pace.
Explore daily counts by county and voter group on the Georgia Early Voting Dashboard.
Four counties with no ballots on the matching 2022 Sunday supplied most of the gain
Georgia’s 25,157 Sunday ballots were near the top of the range of 20,000 to 26,000 we posted Sunday morning. Cobb, Henry, Forsyth and Newton, all also open on the matching 2024 Sunday, accepted 5,291 of them. In the other counties combined, Sunday’s ballots were 5.8% above 2022, against gains of 18.3% to 31.5% on each weekday in those counties. Cherokee and Fayette, which accepted 711 and 1,364 ballots on the matching 2024 Sunday, accepted almost none this Sunday.
The four counties did hold Sunday voting in 2022, a week later, on Oct. 30, when they accepted 4,468 ballots; that was Cobb’s first Sunday voting, added by its elections board that year. This year they voted on the first Sunday instead, so part of Sunday’s gain over 2022 reflects that change in timing. Next Sunday, Oct. 25, matches Oct. 30, 2022, so that comparison will include those counties’ 2022 Sunday ballots.
Statewide, in-person Sunday ballots were 14.0% of the average weekday’s, against 13.7% in 2022 and 14.9% in 2024.
How to read this table: counties that accepted at least 100 ballots on at least one of the three Sundays; the Georgia row includes all counties. Select a column heading to sort.
| Fulton | 6,173 | 6,157 | 10,066 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gwinnett | 5,013 | 3,924 | 11,460 |
| DeKalb | 4,471 | 3,682 | 7,420 |
| Cobb | 2,625 | 0 | 4,404 |
| Henry | 1,234 | 0 | 2,159 |
| Clayton | 1,152 | 1,000 | 1,704 |
| Forsyth | 773 | 0 | 1,688 |
| Chatham | 752 | 695 | 1,489 |
| Newton | 659 | 0 | 859 |
| Bibb | 592 | 462 | 0 |
| Rockdale | 536 | 540 | 957 |
| Muscogee | 456 | 625 | 1,215 |
| Lowndes | 326 | 299 | 744 |
| Clarke | 273 | 395 | 463 |
| Lamar | 113 | 167 | 213 |
| Cherokee | 2 | 332 | 711 |
| Fayette | 0 | 0 | 1,364 |
| Camden | 0 | 0 | 444 |
| Crisp | 0 | 0 | 165 |
| Dougherty | 0 | 199 | 0 |
| Floyd | 0 | 196 | 0 |
| Georgia | 25,157 | 18,769 | 47,610 |
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Republican primary voters are a smaller share of every day’s ballots
Every day this week, Republican primary voters cast a smaller share of ballots than on the matching 2022 day, as the table below shows. On Sunday, Democratic primary voters cast 61.2% of ballots, against 56.5% on the matching Sunday in 2022 and 44.5% in 2024, and Republican primary voters 15.2%, against 20.9% and 20.8%.
As in 2022 and 2024, the electorate shifted toward younger voters, Black voters and Democratic primary voters on the weekend, by similar amounts, though the shares of Democratic primary voters and Black voters rose a little less than in 2022. Statewide, the gap is partly because Sunday voters in the four counties with no ballots on the matching 2022 Sunday were less likely to be Democratic primary voters, 54.2% against 63.1% in the rest of the state. Leaving out those counties, the Democratic primary share rose 15.6 points from Friday to Sunday, against 16.5 in the same counties in 2022, and the share of ballots from Black voters rose 9.7 points, against 11.2.
How to read this table: each row is one day’s accepted ballots, all methods. Each entry shows the 2026 share, with the 2022 share for the day with the same number of days until Election Day in parentheses. Primary groups use each voter’s most recent Democratic or Republican primary in state records, which start in March 2016; a primary ballot is not a party registration.
| Day (days until Election Day) | 65 and older | 18 to 34 | Black voters | Hispanic and Asian voters | Democratic primary voters | Republican primary voters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday (21) | 53.8% (51.5%) | 7.3% (6.4%) | 37.8% (33.4%) | 4.1% (2.5%) | 55.0% (45.2%) | 35.2% (43.4%) |
| Wednesday (20) | 53.4% (50.6%) | 7.5% (6.9%) | 34.6% (31.5%) | 4.3% (2.7%) | 50.9% (43.6%) | 38.0% (43.5%) |
| Thursday (19) | 51.6% (48.1%) | 8.4% (7.5%) | 33.6% (30.2%) | 4.5% (2.7%) | 48.8% (41.3%) | 38.5% (44.7%) |
| Friday (18) | 42.5% (39.3%) | 11.0% (9.9%) | 33.4% (29.9%) | 5.2% (3.1%) | 48.0% (40.5%) | 37.3% (43.1%) |
| Saturday (17) | 24.1% (23.3%) | 18.8% (16.2%) | 36.4% (32.1%) | 8.8% (4.9%) | 52.2% (44.0%) | 25.9% (35.2%) |
| Sunday (16) | 22.3% (20.5%) | 21.1% (18.9%) | 42.8% (40.9%) | 11.3% (6.3%) | 61.2% (56.5%) | 15.2% (20.9%) |
Scroll horizontally to see the full table.
Sunday moved Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton, combined, ahead of 2022
The three counties are 842 ballots ahead of 2022, after trailing by 115 through Saturday. DeKalb is 2.6% ahead, Clayton is 10 ballots short and Fulton is 1.0% behind. Sunday also moved the gain over 2022 in the five core metro counties, Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett, past that of Cherokee and Forsyth: 17,090 ballots against 16,539. Through Saturday, the core counties trailed by 3,677; Cobb’s 2,625 Sunday ballots, on a day it accepted none in 2022, helped close the gap. In percentage terms, Cherokee and Forsyth remain far ahead, 53.0% against 5.2%.
Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton together moved ahead of 2022 on Sunday
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Through Saturday compares Oct. 17, 2026 with Oct. 22, 2022; through Sunday compares Oct. 18, 2026 with Oct. 23, 2022. The 2024 share is the winning presidential candidate’s share of all votes cast for president in the county.
The daily margin over 2022 generally narrowed through the week
Every day beat its 2022 match: Tuesday, this year’s first day of in-person voting and 2022’s second, by 34.1%, then Wednesday by 23.3%, Thursday 24.0%, Friday 20.3%, Saturday 9.0% and Sunday 34.0%. Outside the four counties, the margin fell from 31.5% on Tuesday to 11.4% on Saturday and 5.8% on Sunday.
Because in-person voting began a day earlier in 2022, Georgia trailed 2022’s running total by 31.8% after Tuesday; it moved ahead on Friday. It is 2.2% ahead of 2022 and 39.9% behind 2024. In-person ballots are 8.6% ahead of 2022, and mail ballots are 58.1% behind.
Georgia’s edge over each matching 2022 day generally narrowed from Tuesday to Saturday, then widened on Sunday
Scroll horizontally to see the full chart.
Each bar compares one day’s accepted ballots, all methods, with the 2022 day the same number of days before Election Day: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, matches Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Tuesday was the first day of in-person voting this year and the second in 2022. Outside Cobb, Henry, Forsyth and Newton, which accepted no ballots on the matching 2022 Sunday, Sunday’s margin was 5.8%.
Sunday widened Georgia’s lead over 2022 to 18,674 ballots
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In-person voting began on Monday, Oct. 17, in 2022, 22 days until Election Day, and on a Tuesday, 21 days until Election Day, in 2024 and 2026.
Hispanic and Asian voters are far ahead of their 2022 pace
A larger share of registered Hispanic and Asian voters has voted early than at this point in 2022, though a smaller share than in 2024, a presidential year. 5.7% of registered Hispanic voters have voted early, against 4.2% in 2022 and 8.9% in 2024, and 7.4% of registered Asian voters, against 6.0% and 12.9%. With registration also up, 41.0% for Hispanic voters and 28.6% for Asian voters over the list after the 2022 election, the two groups have cast 2.8% and 2.3% of early ballots, against 1.5% each in 2022. Those shares match or top 2024’s, 2.4% and 2.3%, because their early ballots are down less from 2024 than the early vote as a whole, which is 39.9% behind. By comparison, the share of registered Black voters who have voted early is about even with 2022, 11.9% against 12.0%, and the share of registered White voters fell, from 11.5% to 10.8%.
Changes in how race is recorded by voters in the voter file explain only a small part of the gain. When we looked up each 2022 early voter’s race in today’s voter file, and kept the 421 Hispanic and 394 Asian 2022 early voters no longer in it, Hispanic voters were 81.8% ahead of 2022 and Asian voters 49.4% ahead, against 89.7% and 57.2% with race as recorded in 2022. Of the 2022 early voters whose race was unrecorded, 9,475 are now recorded as White voters and 7,644 as Black voters, against 512 as Hispanic voters and 519 as Asian voters.
A larger share of Hispanic and Asian voters have voted early than at this point in 2022
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Race as recorded in the voter file. Each rate divides accepted early ballots through Oct. 18, 2026, or Oct. 23, 2022, by all registered voters in the group, active and inactive. Other and unrecorded races are not shown.
The gains reach beyond the core metro counties: Hispanic voters in Hall and Cherokee have cast 2.5 times as many early ballots as in 2022, and in Whitfield County, home to Dalton, 748 against 208.
How to read this table: the nine counties where Hispanic voters have cast the most early ballots, sorted by that count. Each 2022 count is through Oct. 23, 2022, 16 days until Election Day, with race as recorded in the 2022 voter file.
| County | Hispanic voters, 2026 | Hispanic voters, 2022 | 2026 as a multiple of 2022 | Asian voters, 2026 | Asian voters, 2022 | 2026 as a multiple of 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gwinnett | 4,584 | 2,066 | 2.2x | 5,033 | 2,887 | 1.7x |
| Cobb | 3,017 | 1,401 | 2.2x | 2,147 | 1,338 | 1.6x |
| Fulton | 2,888 | 1,964 | 1.5x | 4,224 | 2,936 | 1.4x |
| DeKalb | 1,857 | 1,161 | 1.6x | 2,186 | 1,544 | 1.4x |
| Hall | 892 | 352 | 2.5x | 251 | 122 | 2.1x |
| Cherokee | 848 | 340 | 2.5x | 355 | 163 | 2.2x |
| Whitfield | 748 | 208 | 3.6x | 25 | 22 | 1.1x |
| Clayton | 717 | 319 | 2.2x | 437 | 283 | 1.5x |
| Forsyth | 618 | 298 | 2.1x | 1,540 | 609 | 2.5x |
Scroll horizontally to see the full table.
Young women account for most of the gain among young voters
Voters 18 to 34 are 19.1% ahead of 2022 but have cast only 10.0% of early ballots. Women in that group are 24.2% ahead and men 12.3% ahead. The gains are concentrated among Black, Hispanic and Asian voters: among Hispanic voters 18 to 34, women have cast three times as many early ballots as in 2022, 4,686 against 1,558, and among Black voters 18 to 34, women are 42.2% ahead. White voters 18 to 34 are 6.4% behind 2022.
How to read this table: early ballots from voters 18 to 34 through Oct. 18, 2026, and Oct. 23, 2022. The totals for women and men leave out voters with no recorded gender, so they add to slightly less than all voters 18 to 34.
| Voters 18 to 34 | 2026 ballots | 2022 ballots | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hispanic voters, women | 4,686 | 1,558 | +200.8% |
| Hispanic voters, men | 2,986 | 1,345 | +122.0% |
| Black voters, women | 20,273 | 14,252 | +42.2% |
| Black voters, men | 12,797 | 9,418 | +35.9% |
| Asian voters, women | 2,294 | 1,373 | +67.1% |
| Asian voters, men | 1,860 | 1,216 | +53.0% |
| White voters, women | 17,040 | 17,975 | -5.2% |
| White voters, men | 16,131 | 17,486 | -7.7% |
| Voters of other or unrecorded race, women | 4,322 | 3,997 | +8.1% |
| Voters of other or unrecorded race, men | 3,313 | 3,550 | -6.7% |
| All women 18 to 34 | 48,615 | 39,155 | +24.2% |
| All men 18 to 34 | 37,087 | 33,015 | +12.3% |
Scroll horizontally to see the full table.
Other trends we are tracking
Half of early voters last chose a Democratic primary ballot, but that is not a forecast. Democratic primary voters have cast 51.3% of early ballots, against 44.6% at this point in 2022 and 36.6% in 2024; Republican primary voters have cast 35.2%, against 41.2% and 39.8%. In 2024, the Democratic primary share fell from 36.6% at this point to 29.4% of all early and mail ballots accepted through Election Day, while voters with no recorded primary rose from 22.9% to 35.1%.
Democratic primary voters have cast 51.3% of early ballots, up from 44.6% at this point in 2022
Scroll horizontally to see the full chart.
Each voter is grouped by the most recent Democratic or Republican primary in their voting record before that year’s election; records start in March 2016. Voters who chose only nonpartisan ballots, less than 1% of early ballots, are not shown. A primary ballot is not a party registration.
Black voters are a larger share of the early vote than in 2022 or 2024, 35.2%, against 32.8% and 27.7%. Voters who skip primaries are well ahead of 2022, and new registrants are behind. Voters who cast ballots in both of the last two November elections but in neither of the last two primaries have cast 65.6% more early ballots than the matching group in 2022; voters registered since the last November election have cast 21.5% fewer.
37 counties are ahead of 2022
Most counties are still behind 2022; the gains are concentrated in a few large metro and exurban counties. Thirty-seven of Georgia’s 159 counties are ahead of 2022, including 13 of the 20 with the most registered voters, while the median county is 9.2% behind. Baldwin and Floyd fell behind 2022 on Sunday. Outside the five core metro counties, the rest of the state is nearly even with 2022.
37 of Georgia’s 159 counties have accepted more early ballots than at this point in 2022
Change in accepted early ballots from Oct. 23, 2022 to Oct. 18, 2026, both 16 days until Election Day.
How to read this table: the five counties with the largest gains in accepted early ballots over 2022 at 16 days until Election Day, then the five with the largest losses. Shaded rows are core metro counties.
| County | 2026 ballots | 2022 ballots | Change in ballots | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherokee | 26,106 | 16,882 | +9,224 | +54.6% |
| Gwinnett | 68,662 | 60,234 | +8,428 | +14.0% |
| Cobb | 70,550 | 62,730 | +7,820 | +12.5% |
| Forsyth | 21,617 | 14,302 | +7,315 | +51.1% |
| Richmond | 12,368 | 8,141 | +4,227 | +51.9% |
| Muscogee | 13,353 | 14,976 | -1,623 | -10.8% |
| Lowndes | 6,990 | 8,345 | -1,355 | -16.2% |
| Paulding | 12,541 | 13,869 | -1,328 | -9.6% |
| Habersham | 3,342 | 4,430 | -1,088 | -24.6% |
| Fulton | 108,681 | 109,750 | -1,069 | -1.0% |
Recent days’ counts rise in later records
Each day’s count rises in later records as mail ballots are processed, so this report’s figures for recent days can go up. The records released Monday add 233 ballots returned through Saturday, 203 of them by mail.
How to read this table: each row is one day. The 2022 and 2024 columns show the day with the same number of days until Election Day.
| Day (days until Election Day) | 2026 all ballots | 2026 in person | 2026 mail | 2022 all ballots | 2022 in person | 2024 all ballots | 2024 in person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday (21) | 196,801 | 190,393 | 6,105 | 146,741 | 134,841 | 326,884 | 310,956 |
| Wednesday (20) | 180,480 | 174,525 | 5,802 | 146,355 | 127,790 | 289,814 | 277,756 |
| Thursday (19) | 171,540 | 164,280 | 7,107 | 138,363 | 122,998 | 275,209 | 258,051 |
| Friday (18) | 188,295 | 180,823 | 7,341 | 156,481 | 141,742 | 305,667 | 287,308 |
| Saturday (17) | 94,676 | 91,149 | 3,472 | 86,828 | 80,300 | 175,431 | 163,743 |
| Sunday (16) | 25,157 | 24,796 | 332 | 18,769 | 18,109 | 47,610 | 42,365 |
Scroll horizontally to see the full table.
What we are watching next
- Monday, Oct. 19, matches Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, when Georgia accepted 153,708 ballots. Georgia needs at least 135,035 on Monday to stay ahead of 2022’s running total; later records can change both counts.
- Whether the weekday margin over 2022 keeps narrowing as the second week begins.
- Sunday, Oct. 25, matches Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, when Cobb, Henry, Forsyth and Newton accepted 4,468 ballots. Cobb has scheduled voting on Oct. 25 as well; we could not confirm the other three counties’ schedules.
- Whether Hispanic and Asian voters keep gaining share on weekdays, or mostly on weekends.
- From Monday’s comparison on, the 2022 ballot records for Fulton and Gwinnett are incomplete, so their 2022 counts come from the state’s daily county totals, and some 2022 comparisons by voter group may be unavailable.