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Republicans have hopes raised with lower voter turnout in Democrat counties in Georgia

Clayton, Bibb, Richmond, Dougherty counties lag behind state average

RIVERDALE, Ga. — Early voting ends on Friday. The state has had more than half of its eligible voters turn out before Election Day.

Some of the turnout data shows why Republicans are optimistic about winning Georgia on Tuesday.

Four years ago, Democrat Joe Biden won a resounding victory in metro Atlanta. Clayton County helped lead the way.

Biden won 85% of the vote in Clayton County. But this year, with statewide early voting pushing 50% as of Halloween, Clayton County’s early voting was 40.6% as of Thursday midday, well behind the state average.

The same is true in other outstate areas where Biden won easily.

  • Albany / Dougherty County was the second-lowest turnout county in the state at 31.6%
  • Augusta / Richmond County was at 36.9%
  • Macon / Bibb County was at 39%

"I think what we're seeing is depressed turnout in the Black community, particularly among Black male voters," Georgia Republican chairman Josh McKoon said.

He explained that the lower turnout in Democratic strongholds indicates an absence of enthusiasm for Democrat Kamala Harris’ candidacy. 

"(It means) that black voters are not supporting Vice President Harris at the level that they’ve supported previous Democratic candidates for president," McKoon said. 

But state data also shows above-average turnout in other metro Atlanta counties Biden won four years ago —DeKalb, Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett counties.

"I’ve been hauling folks to the polls to vote," said state Sen. David Lucas, who represents Macon. 

He said some lower-income voters who might support Harris are having challenges getting to the polls early.  "We’ve been working on trying to get folks to understand this election is very consequential," Lucas said. 

The counties with the highest early voter turnout rates are smaller Republican counties, though larger ones like Forsyth and Cherokee are also exceeding the state average. Republicans have been encouraging early voting this year – something they did with only lukewarm enthusiasm in previous elections.

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