Voter Turnout in Georgia’s Expensive Senate Runoff Lighter than Expected

Voter turnout in the Georgia Senate runoff election appears to be lighter than expected, according to Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office. “I’m hearing of virtually no lines across the state,” said Jordan Fuchs, Georgia’s Deputy Secretary of State.

More than three million Georgians have already voted early in the highly contested race. The results will determine the balance of power in the U.S, Senate. A win by at least one of the Republicans will keep the Senate in the hands of the Republicans. But a loss by both will shift power to Democrats, 50-50, with Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

The hotly-contested Senate runoff campaign was funded by mostly out-of-state donors. The two Democrats set records by raising over $110 million between November 4th and November 23rd, as reported by Bloomburg. Of their online donations, 96 percent came from out of state. About one-quarter of those donations came from California.

Incumbent Republican candidates raised less than $60 million dollars from online donations during the same time frame. Both parties raised about the same amount of in-state campaign contributions.

Democrat challenger Jon Issoff is the highest-funded candidate in the history of Senate elections. Issoff raised almost $107 million in a two-month period from mid-October to mid-December 2020, as reported by Savannah Morning News.

This speaks to the importance of this Senate runoff election. The future of the Senate, some say the future of the country, rests on the results of today’s election.

However, voter turnout may be more of a factor than the amount of money raised by the candidates.


Image from: ajc.com

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