(The Center Square) – Georgia voters are making their choices in several key races Tuesday, but will likely return to the polls in June.
More than 1 million voters cast early ballots, about 14% of all registered voters. Most of the early voters were Democrats, more than 584,000 compared to over 436,000 Republicans.
Two hours into the election, no major problems were reported. Fulton County, the state’s most populous county, had no precincts with wait times longer than 30 minutes.
In races where no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff will be held on June 16. That’s likely to happen at the top of the ticket in the Republican primary for governor.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and businessman Rick Jackson have been close in the polls. The two have engaged in an expensive war of words on television and during the Atlanta Press Club debate. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger trailed the two in the polls, followed by Attorney General Chris Carr. The other candidates received less than 1% of the polling.
In the Democratic race for governor, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is leading Olu Brown, former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, Amanda Duffy, former state Sen. Jason Esteves, former state Rep. Derrick Jackson, and former Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, who has polled better than the other candidates.
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins has been at the top of the polls in the contest to challenge U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in the fall. The race will likely go to a runoff, but the question is who will be there with Collins. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter has led former University of Tennessee head football coach Derek Dooley. Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed Dooley and spent some of the last week on the campaign trail with him.
Polls remain open until 7 p.m.
