Record advanced voter turnout in Walton County for this election

The previous record for advance voting turnout in Walton County seemingly didn’t have a chance at continuing to hold onto the top spot.

The 2020 mark had already been surpassed as of Tuesday, Oct. 29 and there were still three days to go for the 2024 general election.

The new record of 35,075 is still growing and could easily surpass the 40,000 mark by the time all is said and done. More than 1,593 absentee ballots had also been returned to the Walton County Elections Office as advance voting Tuesday as early voting continues.

From all indications, the competitive and hotly contested presidential election has been the driving force this year. There has also been interest in the Walton County Sheriff ’s race as long-time officer holder Joe Chapman is retiring. However, Republican Keith Brooks is the heavy favorite to win the position despite having Democratic opposition.

Across the state, early voting has become the option of choice for many Georgia voters. As of 3.30 p.m. Tuesday, more than 3 million voters in the Peach State had cast their ballots during the early voting period that began two weeks ago. Combined with 195,462 absentee ballots, more than 40% of active voters in Georgia already have voted. Day 16 in early total shattered the previous record of 1,352 million for the same day in the 2018 early voting period. Nearly 2,1 million had voted early by Day 16 in 2020, and more than 1.765 million had cast ballots early by the same day in 2022.

“Georgia voters know we’ve made it easy to cast a ballot. It’s really that simple,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday. “Over the past four years, we’ve worked tirelessly to prepare for this election by adding early voting days and investing in infrastructure. … We’re battle tested and ready.