CNN
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A record number of early votes were cast in Georgia on Tuesday, with residents heading to the polls in a key battleground state facing controversial election administration changes in the aftermath of Hurricane Helen and a flurry of lawsuits. Ta.
Gabe Sterling of Georgia’s Secretary of State’s Office told the X show that more than 328,000 votes were cast Tuesday. “With a record first day of early voting and accepted absentee voters, the total number of votes cast to date exceeds 328,000,” he said.
The previous record for first-day attendance was 136,000 in 2020, Sterling said.
The battleground state is one of the most closely watched in this election, with former President Donald Trump trying to win it back after narrowly losing the state to President Joe Biden four years ago. Mr. Trump and his allies have been trying to overturn his defeat, but they have been unsuccessful.
Those efforts have been a major challenge this year, as new changes to how the state conducts elections were approved by Republicans on the state election board, prompting legal challenges from Democrats and others. remains unresolved as voting day approaches. .
Despite Tuesday’s very high turnout, the process seemed smoother this year for some Atlanta-area voters who spoke to CNN.
“Last time I voted, I voted in the city and there was a line out the door. They only had maybe three people working,” Corinne Canada said. “So, to be honest, people started leaving because that was the situation. Yeah, like, ‘This is going on for too long.’ I can’t sit here and wait, I have to get back to work. ”But here, no, it was easy. ”
Parts of the state continue to recover from Hurricane Helen, which hit the United States last month and wreaked havoc in several other states in the Southeast. Georgia election officials said absentee ballots were shipped by the U.S. Postal Service as scheduled and were unaffected by the storm.
“So far, we’ve seen a little more than 250,000 voters request absentee ballots. Perhaps in the next week or so, that number will increase to 300,000. Perhaps “About 5% to 6% of all eligible voters will vote absentee this term,” said Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. he said on Tuesday.
Experts say some new state laws that tighten rules for absentee voting and crack down on the use of drop boxes could make this option less attractive than early voting.
In 2020, many drop boxes were available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but this year there will be fewer drop boxes and they will be located at election offices and early voting locations with business hours similar to normal business hours. It will be.
Additionally, the state will continue to offer early voting, as Georgia law currently requires two early voting sessions on Saturdays and allows counties to hold two early voting sessions on Sundays if they choose. is likely to remain at a high level.
Raffensperger said Tuesday that safeguards are in place to ensure a safe election, and in addition to all elections being audited, officials will randomly audit and inspect voting equipment.
“We’ll take the equipment out on Election Day and conduct a surprise audit and bring it to our headquarters to make sure that the votes are being recorded accurately and that they haven’t been hacked by malicious actors,” Raffensperger told reporters. I’ll check,” he said.
Raffensperger, who had been in Trump’s crosshairs after the 2020 election, was among the nearly 5 million votes cast in the Peach State after a statewide machine recount in December 2020. It recertified the results after it was confirmed that he had defeated Trump by just 11,779 votes.
Meanwhile, state judges are scrutinizing a slew of new rules passed by the state election commission’s pro-Trump Republican majority, which Democrats say could bring post-election “chaos” to Georgia. I’m warning you.
After a lengthy court hearing Tuesday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney suspended rules requiring officials to manually count the number of votes cast at each polling place, and the state’s It criticized election officials for approving the rules so close to voting day. The rule will come under the scrutiny of another state judge on Wednesday as part of a lawsuit brought against it by state and national Democrats and civil rights groups.
McBurney is also still considering another rule passed by the commission in August. The rules require local election officials to conduct a “reasonable investigation” into election results before certifying them. Democrats argue the mandate could give county election officials broad powers to postpone or decline altogether. The results were certified “to investigate alleged election fraud.”
But McBurney this week sought to dispel uncertainty around certification, saying local election officials have “certain mandatory obligations” to certify election results in the days after an election. It asked him to rule that her duties regarding certification were “discretionary.”
Election officials explain when they will know if Trump and Harris won GA
Two Democrats waiting in line at precincts in the Atlanta area said they were voting for Harris to avoid the “chaos” surrounding Trump.
Faye Ainsworth said, “Donald Trump has proven to be the most vicious, uneducated, and racist person we’ve ever met, so make it as confusing as possible.” It is imperative that we vote today, simply because we want to avoid this.”
“Well, we have a crazy person running for president and a very talented young woman running against him,” said Joseph Henry King Jr., 77.
Kareem Rothhandler, 32, a self-identified independent, said he will vote for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein to send a message to the Democratic Party about its support for Israel in its war with Hamas.
“We’ve been calling for an arms embargo for the last year and they haven’t responded. All the protests and placards will mean nothing if we don’t get that message where it really matters: the United Nations General Assembly.” Vote Paper. ”
“So the Green Party wants to eliminate the Electoral College,” Rothhandler added. “And I think that’s great, because right now we have a two-party system, but the only thing worse than that is a one-party system, and we’re not far from that.” It is.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Munira Elsamra contributed to this report.
