Politics

Georgia surpasses 4 million votes on last day of early voting

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The Georgia Secretary of State’s office announced 4,004,588 voters have cast ballots through early voting or absentee by mail in a Saturday release. 

“This was the most successful Early Voting period in Georgia history because voters trust the process,” said Secretary Brad Raffensperger in a statement. “Four years of progress brought us here. We’re battle-tested and ready, regardless of what the critics say. And we’re going to hold those who interfere in our elections accountable.”

The Peach State’s election official noted that 92 counties exceeded 50 percent turnout for the first time in state history. A total of 3,761,968 people voted in person early while 242,620 sent in ballots by mail.

The Secretary of State’s office did flag that four individuals may have violated Georgia law by attempting to cast multiple ballots. They are investigating reports accordingly.

This week, the state also was subject to false reports about immigrants casting multiple ballots in videos on social media. Raffensperger addressed the posts in a Thursday statement, casting blame on foreign election interference. 

“Earlier today, our office became aware of a video purporting to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia ID’s claiming to have voted multiple times,” he wrote. “This is false and is an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen in this and other elections. It is likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the 2024 Presidential election.”

He said the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is investigating the matter and has asked Elon Musk to remove the post from the social media platform X in hopes of preventing false narratives. 

“As Americans we can’t let our enemies use lies to divide us and undermine our faith in our institutions – or each other,” Raffensperger added.