Georgia accepted 162,854 early ballots on Monday, Oct. 19, 5.6% more than on the matching Monday in 2022 and the smallest gain of any weekday since advance voting began Oct. 13. In-person ballots were 15.5% ahead of 2022, but mail ballots were 12,083 behind. Fulton, Gwinnett and Cobb accepted the most ballots above their 2022 Monday counts, while Cherokee and Forsyth, both more than 50% ahead of 2022 after the first week, fell 21.1% short of theirs. Georgia is 28,642 ballots, or 2.9%, ahead of 2022.
Explore daily counts by county and voter group on the Georgia Early Voting Dashboard.
Monday’s gain over 2022 was the smallest of any weekday
Monday matches Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, when Georgia accepted 154,160 ballots, so Monday’s 162,854 was well above the 134,212 Georgia needed to stay ahead of 2022’s running total. But the 5.6% gain was well below last week’s weekdays, which ranged from 20.7% on Friday to 34.1% on Tuesday. In-person ballots were 15.5% ahead of 2022, 154,193 against 133,499, also the smallest weekday gain. Mail ballots were 8,384, against 20,467 on the matching 2022 day.
Georgia’s running total is 2.9% ahead of 2022 and 39.7% behind 2024. In-person ballots are 9.6% ahead of 2022 and mail ballots 57.2% behind; 89,127 mail ballots have been issued and not yet accepted.
Monday’s gain over 2022 was the smallest of any weekday, +5.6%
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Each day is compared with the 2022 day with the same number of days until Election Day: Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 with Monday, Oct. 24, 2022.
2022 figures from Oct. 24, 2022 on include estimates for Gwinnett County ballots missing from the state’s 2022 file; Fulton uses the 2022 records in the county’s published ballot file. See how we estimated Gwinnett’s 2022 ballots.
How to read this table: each row is one day’s accepted ballots. The 2022 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 | 2022 mail | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday (21) | 196,818 | 190,395 | 6,116 | 146,775 | 134,872 | 11,781 | +34.1% |
| Wednesday (20) | 180,484 | 174,528 | 5,803 | 146,366 | 127,797 | 18,458 | +23.3% |
| Thursday (19) | 171,553 | 164,283 | 7,113 | 138,383 | 123,017 | 15,278 | +24.0% |
| Friday (18) | 188,954 | 180,882 | 7,938 | 156,513 | 141,774 | 14,639 | +20.7% |
| Saturday (17) | 95,213 | 91,320 | 3,836 | 86,837 | 80,309 | 6,485 | +9.6% |
| Sunday (16) | 25,318 | 24,807 | 482 | 18,764 | 18,113 | 648 | +34.9% |
| Monday (15) | 162,854 | 154,193 | 8,384 | 154,160 | 133,499 | 20,467 | +5.6% |
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The core metro counties now account for most of the lead
Fulton, Gwinnett and Cobb accepted 1,997, 1,890 and 1,603 more ballots than on their matching 2022 Mondays, the three largest gains in the state; 8,930 of the 10,497 ballots in Gwinnett’s 2022 count for that day are estimated, so its gain rests mostly on the estimate. Fulton moved from 1.1% behind 2022 to 0.6% ahead. DeKalb fell short of its 2022 Monday by 1,291 ballots but remains 1.3% ahead overall. Together the five core metro counties, Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett, are 22,057 ballots ahead of 2022, three-quarters of Georgia’s lead.
Cherokee and Forsyth fell behind their 2022 Monday counts by 1,056 and 1,325 ballots. In 2022, Cherokee’s daily count rose from 3,290 on the first Friday to 5,930 on the second Monday, and Forsyth’s from 1,959 to 5,366. This year their counts have been steady: Cherokee accepted 5,468 to 5,922 ballots on each weekday last week and 4,874 on Monday, and Forsyth 4,114 to 4,810, then 4,041, so more of their gain over 2022 came in the first week. The two counties remain 33.5% ahead, down from 53.2% through Sunday.
Athens-Clarke accepted 2,740 ballots on Monday, after 751 to 1,161 on each weekday last week and 1,149 on the matching 2022 day. The county ran advance voting at a single site, its elections office, through Sunday and opened three more on Monday, at the county library, the Miriam Moore Community Center and the county tennis center. A fifth site, at the county’s Cooperative Extension office in Bogart, opens Saturday, Oct. 24, and a sixth, at the University of Georgia’s Tate Student Center, is open Oct. 27 to 29.
How to read this table: Monday compares Oct. 19, 2026 with Oct. 24, 2022; the running totals compare each 2026 day with the 2022 day with the same number of days until Election Day. Shaded rows are the five core metro counties.
| County | Monday 2026 | Matching 2022 day | Monday change | Through Sunday | Through Monday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fulton | 19,343 | 17,346 | +11.5% | -1.1% | +0.6% |
| DeKalb | 13,299 | 14,590 | -8.8% | +3.3% | +1.3% |
| Cobb | 12,791 | 11,188 | +14.3% | +12.6% | +12.9% |
| Clayton | 3,859 | 3,669 | +5.2% | 0.0% | +0.7% |
| Gwinnett* | 12,387 | 10,497* | +18.0% | +14.1% | +14.7% |
| Cherokee | 4,874 | 5,930 | -17.8% | +55.0% | +36.1% |
| Forsyth | 4,041 | 5,366 | -24.7% | +51.1% | +30.5% |
| Clarke | 2,740 | 1,149 | +138.5% | -17.3% | +10.4% |
| Five core metro counties | 61,679 | 57,290 | +7.7% | +5.3% | +5.7% |
| Cherokee and Forsyth | 8,915 | 11,296 | -21.1% | +53.2% | +33.5% |
| All other 152 counties | 92,260 | 85,574 | +7.8% | -3.0% | -1.3% |
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* Gwinnett’s 2022 count includes estimated ballots for Oct. 24, 2022; see how we estimated them. Shaded rows are the five core metro counties.
Outside the five core counties and Cherokee and Forsyth, the other 152 counties combined are 1.3% behind 2022, though they were 7.8% ahead on Monday. Forty-three of Georgia’s 159 counties are ahead of 2022, up from 37 through Sunday; the median county is 7.9% behind.
Who is voting early in Cherokee and Forsyth
Most of Cherokee’s and Forsyth’s early voters last cast a Republican primary ballot, but Democratic primary voters account for the largest part of the two counties’ gain over 2022. Of the 56,692 early ballots the two counties have accepted, 57.9% came from voters whose most recent party primary was Republican, 26.9% from Democratic primary voters and 14.5% from voters with no recorded primary. Republican primary voters cast 5,335 more ballots than at the same point in 2022, an increase of 19.4%. Democratic primary voters cast 6,617 more, an increase of 76.7%, so they account for 46.6% of the counties’ 14,214-ballot gain, though they were about a fifth of their 2022 early voters.
Statewide, Republican primary voters have cast 11.8% fewer early ballots than at the same point in 2022 and Democratic primary voters 18.6% more. In Cherokee and Forsyth, both groups are ahead.
Monday’s shortfall in the two counties came almost entirely from Republican primary voters. The counties accepted 2,381 fewer ballots than on the matching 2022 Monday; Republican primary voters cast 2,283 fewer, a drop of 30.1%, while Democratic primary voters cast 91 more. Republican primary voters there voted earlier this year: through Sunday they were 38.3% ahead of 2022, and through Monday 19.4%.
Most of the added Republican primary ballots came from less regular primary voters. Republican primary voters who cast ballots in both of the last two November elections but neither of the last two primaries cast 6,411 early ballots, against 1,804 in 2022, while those who voted in all four cast 2,067 fewer. The gain is not coming from newly registered voters: voters who first registered after the 2024 general election cast 1,668 ballots, against 1,877 in 2022 from voters who first registered after the 2020 general. Registered voters in the two counties grew 6.9%, and the share who have voted early rose from 11.1% to 13.8%.
Ballot records cannot show how anyone voted. A primary ballot is not a party registration, and Georgia’s primaries are open, so some voters cross over. The pool of Democratic primary voters in the two counties has also grown: 51,731 registered voters there last voted in a Democratic primary, against 41,401 in 2022, while the Republican pool grew from 143,361 to 145,707. Within each pool, 29.5% of Democratic primary voters have voted early, against 20.8% in 2022, and 22.5% of Republican primary voters, against 19.2%.
How to read this table: Cherokee and Forsyth combined, running totals through Oct. 19, 2026 and Oct. 24, 2022. Most recent party primary is each voter’s most recent Democratic or Republican primary in state records, which start in March 2016. Monday change compares Oct. 19, 2026 with Oct. 24, 2022.
| Most recent party primary | 2026 so far | 2022, same point | Change | 2026 share | 2022 share | Added ballots | Monday change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican primary voters | 32,847 | 27,512 | +19.4% | 57.9% | 64.8% | 5,335 | -30.1% |
| Democratic primary voters | 15,241 | 8,624 | +76.7% | 26.9% | 20.3% | 6,617 | +4.5% |
| No recorded primary | 8,236 | 6,109 | +34.8% | 14.5% | 14.4% | 2,127 | -11.2% |
| Nonpartisan primaries only or unavailable | 368 | 233 | +57.9% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 135 | -10.9% |
| Cherokee and Forsyth | 56,692 | 42,478 | +33.5% | 100% | 100% | 14,214 | -21.1% |
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Black voters and Democratic primary voters cast a larger share of Monday’s ballots
Black voters cast 52,821 of Monday’s ballots, 19.9% more than on the matching 2022 day and 32.4% of the total, against 28.6% in 2022. White voters cast 3.1% fewer than in 2022. Hispanic voters cast twice as many, 4,616 against 2,300, and Asian voters 53.9% more. Democratic primary voters cast 45.5% of Monday’s ballots, against 38.3% on the matching 2022 day, and Republican primary voters 38.3%, against 44.3%.
How to read this table: Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 against Monday, Oct. 24, 2022. Race is as recorded in each year’s voter file. 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.
| Group | Monday 2026 | Matching 2022 day | Change | 2026 share | 2022 share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black voters | 52,821 | 44,069 | +19.9% | 32.4% | 28.6% |
| White voters | 88,570 | 91,448 | -3.1% | 54.4% | 59.3% |
| Hispanic voters | 4,616 | 2,300 | +100.7% | 2.8% | 1.5% |
| Asian voters | 3,800 | 2,469 | +53.9% | 2.3% | 1.6% |
| Democratic primary voters | 74,019 | 59,028 | +25.4% | 45.5% | 38.3% |
| Republican primary voters | 62,311 | 68,331 | -8.8% | 38.3% | 44.3% |
| No recorded primary | 25,158 | 25,453 | -1.2% | 15.4% | 16.5% |
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Voters who skip primaries are well ahead of 2022; the most regular voters are behind
Voters who cast ballots in both of the last two November elections but in neither of the last two primaries have cast 66.3% more early ballots than the matching group in 2022. Voters who cast ballots in all four of those elections, the most reliable voters, have cast 18.4% fewer, and they are 36.3% of early voters this year, against 45.8% in 2022.
How to read this table: each group is defined by the voter’s record in the last two November elections and the last two primaries before that year’s election. Running totals through Oct. 19, 2026 and Oct. 24, 2022.
| Voting history in the last two Novembers and primaries | 2026 so far | 2022, same point | Change | 2026 share | 2022 share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voted in all four | 373,300 | 457,207 | -18.4% | 36.3% | 45.8% |
| Both Novembers, one primary | 300,918 | 252,805 | +19.0% | 29.3% | 25.3% |
| Both Novembers, no primaries | 184,356 | 110,852 | +66.3% | 18.0% | 11.1% |
| Registered too recently to have a full record | 70,001 | 88,980 | -21.3% | 6.8% | 8.9% |
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Our 2022 comparisons now cover every county
The state’s 2022 ballot records are missing most Fulton and Gwinnett early ballots from Oct. 24, 2022 on, the day that matches this Monday. Our 2022 counts for Fulton now come from the 2022 records in the ballot file Fulton County publishes, which include every day. For Gwinnett, which has not published a comparable file, we keep every record the state file has and estimate only the ballots it is missing from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1, 2022, 70,908 in all, using the county’s daily totals and its voters from the first week of 2022. That makes 2022 comparisons by voter group and district available again; values that include the Gwinnett estimate are marked with an asterisk on the dashboard. How we estimated Gwinnett’s ballots.
Recent days’ counts rise in later records
Each day’s count rises in later records as mail ballots are processed. The records released Tuesday add 1,402 ballots returned through Sunday, 1,138 of them by mail; Sunday’s count rose from 25,157 to 25,318. With those records and Fulton’s 2022 ballot file, Georgia was 19,948 ballots, or 2.4%, ahead of 2022 through Sunday, against the 18,674 we reported on Monday.
What we are watching next
- Tuesday, Oct. 20, matches Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, when Georgia accepted 136,564 ballots.
- Whether Cherokee and Forsyth keep trailing their 2022 second-week counts.
- Whether Athens-Clarke’s added sites keep its count above 2022’s.
- Sunday, Oct. 25, matches Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, when Georgia accepted 26,544 ballots, 4,468 of them in Cobb, Henry, Forsyth and Newton.