US Presidential Elections 2024 | Georgia officials report record turnout on first day of early voting

After weeks of fielding phone calls, text messages and direct mail pleas to cast ballots before Election Day, Georgia voters did not waste time: Within six hours of polls opening Tuesday, the presidential battleground state had posted record turnout for the first day of early voting.

Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the Georgia secretary of state's office, said that more than 154,000 people had voted by 1 pm. Tuesday, beating the daylong tally of 136,000 from 2020. By 4 p.m., Sterling said, close to 252,000 people had been to the polls.

Many counties reported short lines as voters, once they made it past thickets of signs, cast ballots and then donned voting stickers emblazoned with a Georgia peach. (In some areas, children could collect similar stickers that marked them as future voters.)

Democrats and Republicans alike have crusaded in recent weeks for people to vote early as both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris aggressively seek the state's 16 electoral votes. With no other statewide races this year -- there are several low-profile ballot measures related to taxes -- the presidential contest will be the unrivaled draw for many voters in Georgia.

Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Atlanta on Tuesday night, not long after the first day of voting concludes. And former President Bill Clinton spent much of Sunday and Monday imploring Harris' supporters in south and central Georgia to get to the polls early. Harris is expected to visit Atlanta this weekend.

Nearly 5 million Georgians voted in 2020, when Joe Biden carried the state by 12,670 votes. He was the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Georgia since Clinton in 1992.

County officials began mailing domestic absentee ballots last week; military and overseas ballots were distributed last month.