Youngest of voters double, chance to triple turnout at the polls in Georgia

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Tight Georgia races and important issues could be driving young voters to the polls.

Over 219,000 Georgia voters between the ages of 18 and 29 have cast their ballots before Election Day. Compare that to roughly 87,000 total voters in that age category in 2018 -- that’s more than double.

Charles Bulock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, said you could see triple the turnout after Election Night.

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“The youngest voters tend to be those who are the least politically involved. And so voting is habit forming. So if you once you start doing it, then you’re more likely to go out and continue doing that practice,” said Bullock.

Bullock said the turnout won’t have a major impact on results because Georgia is also seeing a higher turnout among older voters as well. While younger voters skew liberal, voters 65 and older lean conservative.

“It might be, perhaps the issue of abortion might be one because after all if anyone’s going to need an abortion, it’s going to be a young woman or young couple that would be most likely impacted by that. We know that earlier in the summer when the Roe decision came down, that got a lot of women to go out and register to vote and certainly provided a burst of enthusiasm for the Democratic Party,” said Bullock.

Voters like Rahav Kothury Pranati Yadlapalli tell us the tight races and issues on the ballots have them voting.

“The state could go blue or red right now, it’s good to go out and vote,” said Kothury.

“I do think voting makes a difference because your voice is heard,” said Yadlapalli.

There are some tight races on the Georgia ticket, according to a statewide poll by landmark communications, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp leads Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams by a 52-46% margin, and in the election for U.S. Senate, Republican Herschel Walker leads Senator Raphael Warnock 47-46%.

More than 2.5 million Georgians have voted so far. Bullock says he expects that number to break 4 million and get close to 5 million after Election Day.

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