Georgia reports record turnout as early voting begins in US battleground state

Voters in Georgia turned out in record numbers as the battleground state opened early voting for the November 5 US presidential election between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, state officials said on Tuesday.

At least 252,000 voters had cast ballots at early-voting sites as of 4pm, nearly double the 136,000 who participated in the first day of early voting in the 2020 election, said Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s No 2 election official.

“Spectacular turnout,” he wrote on social media.

Early voting, either in person or by mail, has become increasingly popular with US voters. Nearly one in seven voters cast their ballots ahead of Election Day in 2020, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.

However, many Republicans opposed the dramatic expansion of mail voting that year, saying it was less secure than in-person voting, and Trump cited false claims of mail ballot fraud as he sought unsuccessfully to overturn his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.