ATL Standard

Gabriel Sterling, COO for the Georgia Secretary of State's Office, reported that in the final hours before voters were slated to go to the polls in the Senate runoff race between Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, a record-setting 1.8 million voters had cast ballots.

"27 counties in Georgia have already had over 30% of their registered voters cast a ballot in the December 6 Runoff Election," Sterling said in a Dec. 4 tweet, quoted in a FOX 5 Atlanta news report. "That's nearly 1 in 3. Greene County already has 40%+ casting a vote."

While well over half (54%) of Georgia midterm voters said they considered party control of the Senate to be the primary factor in their vote in the general election, that is no longer a consideration because Democrats have already secured the majority.

Less than 24 hours before polling places were set to open for in-person voting, the Georgia Secretary of State's Office noted that the 1.8 million voters who had already voted in the runoff represented in the neighborhood of 26.7% of the total active voters in the state.

State officials also reported that of the more than 237,000 absentee ballots requested for the runoff election, over 155,000 had already been returned before polling places opened, representing an increase of 83% compared to the previous midterm runoff record for most votes cast.

Warnock narrowly edged Walker in the runoff, retaining his Senate post.