A staggering 415,000 ballots were accepted on the first day of early voting in Georgia, shattering the previous record of 133,000 in 2020. With nineteen days to go, enthusiasm is extremely high. For example, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, 43,331 ballots were accepted in Fulton County. The county second-highest number of ballots accepted Cobb County, accepting 29,601 ballots. “As of 4pm [Eastern Time] we have crossed the quarter million mark with 251,899 votes cast. Spectacular turnout. We are running out of adjectives for this,” Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State, posted on X.With that in mind, U.S. Representatives Maxwell Frost, D-Florida and Nikema Williams, D-Georgia, co-hosted a rally in East Point on Tuesday. Joining the members of Congress were Georgia State Senator Nan Orrock and Georgia State Representative Tanya Miller. Each elected official highlighted the stakes of the election.“That’s what happens when people are showing up to vote for their freedoms and their future, and that’s what we’re seeing here in Georgia,” explained Williams. Bright and early this morning, here in my deep blue district, we had lines down the street at multiple polling locations.”Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris released her economic agenda for Black men. Williams explains why it’s perfect for her constituents. “I have the largest number of Black entrepreneurs and Black small business owners,” Williams said. “And this commitment that we’ve heard from our Vice President to Black men will continue to uplift those business owners so that we can continue to thrive, not just survive in this country.”The Youngest Member of Congress shares his storyFrost used his time in Georgia to highlight a particular moment that molded his raison d’être. “Number one, I got involved in politics when I was 15 years old because I didn’t want to get shot,” explains Frost. “I didn’t want to get shot in my school. I didn’t want to get shot on my block.”Frost, now 27, would build a relationship with his biological mother.“Growing up as an organizer especially, I’d always make this caricature of like the type of person I’m thinking about,” says Frost. “I’m fighting when we’re talking about criminal justice reform, the climate crisis, gun violence, poverty, all these issues. I’m talking about my biological mom. And as I hear her life story, I realize that she’s the person I had been thinking about my entire organizing career, and I didn’t even know it. I hung up that phone and said, ‘I’m running for Congress.'”Notably, Frost’s bill about preventing gun violence would be heard by the Biden Administration. Through executive order, the first Federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention is now up and running. Vice President Harris currently runs that office.Democrats must turn vibes into resultsGeorgia State Representative Tanya F. Miller, Esq., speaks during a Democratic Party of Georgia and Team Kamala Harris-Tim Walz rally on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 in East Point, Georgia. (Photo: Itoro N. Umontuen/The Atlanta Voice)State Rep. Miller, whose statehouse district contains East Point, closed out her speech highlighting the implications of the race. She implored committed voters to bring extra people to the polls. “We know about all the shenanigans that are going on with the state election boards,” says Miller. “Plus the efforts in the past to try to steal our elections, to try to suppress our vote, to try to not count our votes. Well, if you wait till Election Day, guess what? It’s going to be harder for us to remedy any problems that happen.”Miller highlighted Vice President Harris’s economic agenda during her speech. Consequently, she told the crowd that the Democrats must not get comfortable. She, along with U.S. Rep. Frost, warned this election is an existential battle at the ballot box for rights, the planet, and America’s collective future.“We’re the underdogs,” Miller states. “Don’t get it twisted. Every place in Georgia is not like the lovely East Point. It’s not like southeast Atlanta, College Park and the City of South Fulton. Georgia is a big place, and we are the underdogs.” The post U.S. Reps. Maxwell Frost and Nikema Williams hold rally on first day of early voting in Georgia appeared first on The Atlanta Voice.