It’s Election Day and Georgia voters are casting ballots to select Democratic and Republican candidates for scores of races — including governor, the U.S. Senate, state legislators and members of Congress.
Follow The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for unparalleled coverage all day. When polls close at 7 p.m. the AJC is your source for results. Our team of experienced journalists will be with the leading candidates around the state, and will help you make sense of what happened and what comes next.
Georgia Republicans are gaining ground on Election Day, but Democrats still hold a significant turnout advantage overall.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s office says Republican primary voters slightly outnumber Democratic voters among the roughly 400,000 ballots cast so far Tuesday.
But Democrats entered Election Day with an early-vote edge of roughly 150,000 ballots statewide, giving the party a cushion Republicans are still trying to erase.
The turnout battle matters beyond bragging rights. Democrats hope their advantage boosts candidates in the closely watched Georgia Supreme Court races, where the party is backing challengers Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin in officially nonpartisan contests.
Among the down ballot contests getting more attention than usual in these midterms are the races for two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission.
As the state's top utility regulator, the PSC plays a major role in the lives of most Georgians. The PSC's five members set the rates that Georgia Power, the state's largest electric utility, can charge its customers. Commissioners also dictate how much profit the monopoly utility can earn and the sources it uses to generate electricity.
After 20-plus years of GOP dominance on the PSC, Democrats managed to flip two seats in November. And while Republicans still maintain a narrow 3-to-2 edge, Democrats could grab control of the commission if they sweep both races this fall. The results of Tuesday's primaries could decide who faces off in those two pivotal races later this year.
In the District 3 Republican primary, former PSC commissioner Fitz Johnson is running to reclaim his old seat against political newcomer and purchasing manager Brandon Martin. The winner of the GOP contest will face incumbent Commissioner Peter Hubbard, who's running unopposed in the Democratic Primary.
The primaries for the PSC's District 5 seat are more crowded. For the Republicans, mediator Bobby Meehan, lawyer Carolyn Roddy and engineer Joshua Tolbert are facing off. On the Democratic side, the candidates are attorney Craig Cupid, political operative Shelia Edwards, and professor and businesswoman Angelia Pressley.
The candidates in each race must live in the district they're running in, but PSC commissioners are elected statewide, so voters across Georgia will see both contests on their ballots.
Cobb County said technical issues with the poll pad devices used to check in voters are causing delays at "isolated" polling locations.
The county's elections department said on Tuesday afternoon that it is working with the Secretary of State's office to "deploy additional poll pads."
"In the meantime, polling places are successfully utilizing backup manual check-in procedures to ensure voting continues without interruption," the county said.
It was not immediately clear how many precincts were affected. The AJC has asked for additional information.
This morning, an East Cobb voter said her precinct on Johnson Ferry Road had only one of the four voter check-in machines working.
"Voting has not stopped, and all voters in line will be able to cast their ballot," the county said Tuesday afternoon. "We ask for the public’s patience and understanding as poll workers continue to assist voters and implement these procedures as quickly and efficiently as possible."
Outside Parkside Elementary School in Grant Park, Fabienne Moore said today was primarily about the “big picture” and exercising her right to vote.
However, there were still statewide issues that influenced her choices on the ballot.
“I’m concerned about voter suppression in this country,” she said.
Kendra Little said she was worried about the political direction Georgia has been taking. Little was particularly concerned about protecting voters’ rights and influence from the Trump administration.
“Past elections have been kind of run under (Trump’s) tutelage,” she said, adding that there is too much of a “handshake” between the president and current Gov. Brian Kemp.
“(The next governor) is going to be someone who is the catalyst of moving away from gerrymandering and those sorts of things,” said Little, who ultimately chose to stand behind former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Garland Edgerton said he’s not “at all” happy with the current political landscape. “They’re trying to push us back to ‘50s and the ‘60s,” said Edgerton.
"They’re trying to take things away from minorities, make us seem insignificant when we should have more of a voice than what we do.”
Voting appears to be going smoothly in metro Atlanta.
With the exception of an unspecified “technical issue” affecting some precincts in Cobb, no other counties reported widespread problems at the polls.
Cobb has yet to respond to questions about the nature of its issues or how many precincts have been affected. Earlier Tuesday it said backup procedures were being used at some polling sites.
Liz Miniet, a voter in East Cobb, said at her precinct on Johnson Ferry Road only one of the four voter check-in machines was working when she arrived Tuesday morning.
Miniet, a former AJC editor, said it took her roughly 20 minutes to check in. She was then able to vote immediately.
A Fulton County judge has ordered Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to let State Election Board members observe his office as they gather election night results from across the state.
Counties report their results to the Secretary of State's "emergency operations center," also known as the bunker.
Raffensperger, a Republican who is running for governor, has a frosty relationship with the far-right members of the State Election Board. He wasn't going to let them in. But state Sen. Greg Dolezal, a GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, and two others sued.
"Public confidence in the integrity of Georgia’s elections — particularly when the chief election official is a candidate in the very election being administered — depends on robust, independent observation of tabulation and aggregation processes," Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville wrote.
Glanville noted Raffensperger's office had a chance to respond to the lawsuit but chose not to.
"Transparency wins," Dolezal posted on X.
Outside of the Park Tavern polling site near Piedmont Park, Kalindi Parikh said she wasn’t sure whom to support in the Democratic primary for governor. But she had a clear sense of her top priority as a voter: backing gun control measures. So, she turned to artificial intelligence to help her whittle down her choices.
“I honestly asked ChatGPT,” she said. “I asked, ‘Can you go through the candidates and see who most supports gun control?’ And it said, ‘Esteves for governor.’”
If you encounter unusually long lines, intimidation or other problems while voting today the AJC wants to hear about it.
Please email us at politics@ajc.com.
You can also contact your county registrar's office.
In Middle Georgia, outside a polling station at a Lutheran church in the heart of Macon’s Ingleside neighborhood, voter David Dickey said his motivation to cast a ballot was, as he put it, to “save the Constitution.”
“To me, it is vote for and elect Democrats to counter (President Donald) Trump’s influence, especially in Congress. … The possibility is, and what I’m fully hoping for, is enough people are angry at Trump and angry at the Republicans to vote Democratic,” said Dickey, 77, who lives in a senior community nearby.
“I really do believe that there will be not just a blue wave,” he went on, “but a blue tsunami.”
“You think so?” said a woman, a neighbor of his, standing nearby. “I don’t know.”
Georgia Republican and Democratic voters alike are still uncertain about which gubernatorial candidate they'll pick to represent their party, according to recent surveys.
Candidates must clear 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff, but that could be difficult in today's contested primaries.
Atlanta's former mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, has led the Democratic field in every primary poll. But in only one of eight surveys does her support top 50%,
On the Republican side, Rick Jackson and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones lead polls, with many voters undecided. But 30% of respondents also told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's pollsters in late April that they don't know who they'll vote for.
Check out a full breakdown of the top polls for the governor's race.
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