Georgian voters turned out on Tuesday (May 19) for the primary elections which could greatly alter the political future of a key battleground state, with Democrats and Republicans vying for statewide offices, legislative seats and crucial judicial positions.
The elections are being held in the midst of a sweeping measure by Republicans to pass legislation which would disenfranchise Black voters. GOP-led state legislatures across the country have adopted laws restricting voter ID requirements, stunting the availability of ballot drop boxes and expanding state controls over local election administration after Black voters turned out in record numbers in recent elections.
Georgia passed an election law last year that imposed new restrictions on absentee voting and boosted state control over county election systems. According to the Republican Party, the legislation was needed to secure election integrity after President Trump’s loss of Georgia in the 2020 election. However, the Democrats and several civil rights groups have shot down their reasoning, calling it an unrestrained attack on voters’ access to the polls.
Sadly, a similar struggle over voting rights is currently taking shape in Louisiana, where Republicans have faced criticism for congressional redistricting maps they are accused of creating to debilitate the influence of Black voters. On Saturday, Louisiana voters rejected all five of the proposed constitutional amendments.
In Georgia, early voting was strong: More than one million ballots were cast, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a substantial leap from the same point four years ago, and roughly 153,000 more votes were cast by Democrats and voters requesting Democratic ballots than by Republicans before Tuesday.
More than a million Georgians voted early – a new record. Democrats topped Republicans by 15 percent. Tom Baxter explains why the early voting numbers may be the real story of this primary. @TwomBax https://t.co/n9BbfSz9rz
— SaportaReport (@SaportaReport) May 19, 2026
“Some states make you register by party, and so you don’t have a choice,” Macon-Bibb County Election Supervisor Thomas Gillon told WMAZ.
“Georgia, fortunately, is not that way, so it’s called an open primary,” he continued, adding, “We want to have a 100% turnout every election. So we encourage you to do your research, figure out who you want to vote for, then come out and vote.”
Normally, low-profile judicial races were among some of the most closely contested on the ballot, as two Democrat-backed attorneys – Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin – challenged two Republican appointed justices on the Georgia Supreme Court, Sarah Hawkins Warren and Charlie Bethel. This time around, the stakes are far too high and all eyes are watching.
🚨BREAKING!
— Georgia Freedom Caucus (@FreedomCaucusGA) May 13, 2026
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has called for a special session to redraw Georgia’s congressional and legislative maps.
Furthermore, the proclamation allows for the enactment of much-needed election law reform.
We must not let this opportunity go to waste.
The time… pic.twitter.com/gGac0lWAMS
So far, it seems that the GOP is doing everything it can to hold onto power and in the Peach state, Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp has already started the work to redraw the state’s congressional map years before the 2028 election cycle, giving Republicans an early shot at sealing in power after the Supreme Court further strained the Voting Rights Act last month.
Get out and vote!
