FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Here in metro Atlanta, state data shows that no county has had a higher percentage of early voter turnout than Fayette County — for a variety of reasons.
"I prefer to vote on election day, but it’s just this time, I’m really busy," said David Fletcher, a Fayette County voter who early-voted Friday.
He's a backer of Republican Donald Trump. He changed his normal Election Day voting pattern to get it over with.
"I wanted to make sure my vote was in. I do a lot of traveling for what I do in business," Fletcher said.
"Last time we actually voted on election day. But then this year, we just chose to vote early," said Debbie Williams, who also looked past her usual preference to vote on Election Day.
Voters in Republican areas of the country have stoked early voting numbers this year.
"Oh yeah. Just want to make sure everything gets back on track," said Walter Harris, who says he early voted only one other time previously.
Fayette County is a somewhat bipartisan Georgia county. In 2022, Fayette County voters supported Republican Brian Kemp for Governor and Democrat Raphael Warnock for United States Senate.
"I’ve been to several other countries. I’ve been to places that don’t have functioning democracies. I know the value of that," said Jason Thurman, who said issues drove him to vote; convenience drove him to do it early.
Ditto, Kat Mayer.
"I work in film here. My job’s going to start in about a week," Mayer said after early voting Friday. "I’m going to be working. I want to go ahead get that vote in. I just don’t want to be short of time on the day of," said Mayer, a Kamala Harris supporter driven by her stances on immigration, abortion and other issues.
State data shows the highest early turnout is among voters between the ages of 50 and 80. However, voters below the age of 25 are turning out early in larger numbers than other young adults between the ages of 25 and 35.