Georgia's Early Vote Soars 142% After GOP Attacks Mailed Ballots
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/georgia-e2-80-99s-early-vote-soars-142-25-after-gop-attacks-mailed-ballots/ar-BB1acLWO
The record-smashing crowds casting ballots early in battleground Georgia owe their size at least in part to people changing their minds about voting by mail after President Donald Trump and other Republicans spent months criticizing the method.
In the first eight days of voting, nearly 1.7 million Georgians voted absentee or in-person, a 142% increase from the same period in the 2016 race, state data show. Of those, more than 980,000 voted in person.
Long lines are forming at polling places across the country, including Florida, where in-person voting started Monday.
A look at the first day of voting in Georgia showed just how many ditched their mail-in ballots. On Oct. 12, about 25,000 of the 128,000 voters who swamped the states polling stations signed affidavits to cancel mail ballots at the same time, according to University of Florida elections expert Michael McDonald.
The trend continued all week, said officials in metro Atlanta counties and Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who asked switchers to cut it out. He said the extra time needed to cancel mail ballots was aggravating long lines.