Voting high in first week of advance voting in Athens, Oconee County

Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties set new precedents for the number of people who headed the polls in the first week of advance voting.

In both counties, the early vote turnout has surpassed the election of 2020, which also tallied big numbers at the polls.

Both elections featured former President Donald Trump, who was seeking a second term in 2020 and is now seeking to regain the White House against Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

There were only four voting days last week due to the Indigenous Peoples Day holiday last Monday, but during the next four days 6,147 people cast early votes in Athens, according to the county’s Director of Elections and Voter Registrations Charlotte Sosebee.

In 2020, the voting turnout for the first five days of early voting was 3,739.

However, in Athens, there were also 1,198 people who voted on Saturday for a five day total of 7,345 and another 459 on Sunday, according to Sosebee.

In Oconee County, there were 7,253 people who voted from Tuesday through Saturday, according to Elections and Registration Assistant Director Jennifer Stone. There is no early voting on Sundays in Oconee County.

During the first five days of early voting in 2020, she said there were 5,996 votes cast.

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The pace is still continuing this week.

“It was slow to start with this morning,” Stone said, “but around 10 or 11 o’clock it started picking up.” Shortly after noon Monday, another 638 people had arrived at the Oconee office to vote.

Early voting continues this week and ends next week on Nov. 1. The General Election is Nov. 5.

Georgia overall is experiencing a record turnout, with more than 365,000 ballots case across the state on the first day of early voting, according to USA Today.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Early voters turning out in high numbers in Athens, Oconee County