[ October 28, 2020 ] With slightly more than 1 week to go, 27% of active voters in Pickens County have already cast ballots. This is a significant surge from past years and is part of the record early turnout that Georgia has seen so far ahead of the November elections.

?The record turnout is a testament to the hard work our state and local elections officials are putting in to uphold election access for Georgia voters,? said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. ?We are setting records every hour. Adjusting to a new voting system or turning on a dime to accommodate a surge in absentee by mail voting would be enough to challenge even the most seasoned elections officials. Doing so with the added complications of COVID-19 has made this effort truly Herculean.?

So far, 6,358 of Pickens County?s 23,788 registered voters have already turned out to vote early, representing 27% of the total registered votes in the county. This significant early turnout number tracks with the record turnout seen across Georgia and throughout the country.

Of the 6,358 ballots cast in Pickens County so far, 2,087 absentee by mail ballots have been returned by mail or through the more than 200 absentee ballot dropboxes that have been installed across the state. The drop boxes were first allowed following a rule passed by the State Election Board, which is chaired by Secretary Raffensperger, earlier this year at the request of county elections officials.

Much of the surge in early voting has come from record early, in-person voting. In Pickens County so far, 4,271 voters have cast ballots early, in-person.


------------------

Sample Ballots and more candidate info

STATS

291 voted in Pickens County on Saturday, October 24th

State Ballots Cast as of 8 p.m. on October 27, 2020

Total Number of Ballots Cast: 3,195,642

Total Number of Early, In-Person Ballots Cast So Far Today: 167,262

Total Number of Early, In-Person Ballots Cast: 2,137,428

Total Number of Absentee By Mail Ballots Cast: 1,058,214

Ballots Cast as of Close of Polls on November 1, 2016

Total Number of Ballots Cast: 1,708,144

Total Number of Early, In-Person Ballots Cast: 1,562,034

Total Number of Absentee By Mail Ballots Cast: 146,110


Percent Increases*:

Percentage Increase in Total Turnout to Date: 87.6%

Percentage Increase in Total Early, In-Person Turnout to Date: 36.8%

Percentage Increase in Absentee By Mail Ballots Accepted to Date: 624%

*Percentage Increases Compare Close of Polls Data for the 16th Day of Early Voting in 2020 and 2016