Georgia has seen a record number of Black voters cast ballots during the early voting period. Just over one million Black Georgians voted before Election Day, according to data from the Secretary of State’s Office. “We are seeing breakthrough numbers in participation and that voter participation increase has been building over the years,” said Women Engaged CEO and co-founder Malika Redmond. Asked what particular concerns have led to record-breaking numbers, Redmond listed healthcare and the affordability of housing as two top issues for voters. “These are things that are critical,” she said. “People are feeling that.” On the amounts of votes cast by Black voters before Election Day, founder and CEO of Paramount Consulting Group Tharon Johnson said, “Historically, Black voters have overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic nominee for President. I believe that will be the case again in 2024.”Tharon added that the Black vote is important to the winning Democratic coalition in Georgia. “The current statewide early vote and absentee numbers are strikingly similar to 2020 and are tending in the right direction for VP Kamala Harris to win Georgia again,” Johnson said. Above: Gabriel Sterling, Georgia Secretary of State’s Office COO: There has been a record-breaking effort from Black voters during the 2024 early voting period this election season. Photo by Kerri Phox/The Atlanta VoiceDuring a press conference on the South Steps of the Georgia State Capitol on Wednesday, Oct. 30, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Georgia Secretary of State’s Office Chief Operating Officer Gabriel Sterling addressed the media about the upcoming election and Georgia’s place among the six or seven battlegrounds states that are up for grabs this election. During that press conference, The Atlanta Voice asked Sterling if he knew the 872,510 votes was a record. Sterling said he didn’t have the numbers in front of him, but it was safe to assume that it has been a record-setting performance by Black voters. That number jumped past the one million mark on Friday, Nov. 1, the final day of the early voting period. Raffensperger, both he and Sterling are Republicans, said this is going to be a “tight election,” but “it’s going to be a close election in all battleground states,” so Georgia voters should expect a long night of poll watching and election result coverage on Super Tuesday.“Georgia voters are smashing through every voting record,” Raffensperger said.”The early voting period ended with nearly four million Georgians having cast ballots. The 55% statewide turnout is a record, so is the record number of votes that have been cast (3,981,280), a crucial battleground state for United States Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz; and former United States President Donald Trump and his running mate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.In comparison to the first 16 days of early voting in 2016 (1.3 million voters) and 2020 (2.1 million voters), this year’s efforts dwarf any other records that were previously set. As expected, the majority of the votes come from metro Atlanta, where the majority of the state’s voters reside, but there have also been record-breaking turnouts in smaller and mid-sized counties up and down the state.The post Georgia’s Black early voter numbers pass one million mark on last day appeared first on The Atlanta Voice.