Georgia voters have the opportunity to cast their votes for senator a few days earlier, according to a recent superior court ruling.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox, who has been on the bench since 2017, ruled that there can be early voting on Saturday, November 26, the Saturday following the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Democratic Party of Georgia, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) filed a suit earlier in the week to allow for early voting after a holiday. The Secretary of State Office had previously stated that Georgia law specifically prohibited counties from allowing Saturday early voting following holiday.
The ruling, which became public a little after 5 p.m. Friday reads in part:
“The Court finds that Plaintiffs and their members and constituents will suffer immediate and irreparable harm absent Declaratory and/or Injunctive relief, based upon the pronouncement that Georgia counties will be barred from providing advanced voting on Saturday, November 26, 2022. The Court finds that the absence of the Saturday vote will irreparably harm the Plaintiffs, their members, and constituents, and their preferred runoff candidate.”
In a combined statement from Warnock’s campaign manager Quentin Fulks, Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Rebecca DeHart and DSCC Executive Director Christie Roberts, the ruling was described as, “a win for every Georgia voter, but especially for workers and students who will have a greater opportunity to make their voices heard in this election.”
Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
Warnock was in Macon Thursday night where he spoke to a crowd of supporters gathered at the Tubman Museum. “There are two men in this race but only one of us has actually had the job,” he said. When asked if that even matters to voters at this point, Warnock said of his opponent Herschel Walker, “He has been campaigning for over a year, and he hasn’t offered a single solution. He’s talked about a whole range of things, yesterday he was talking about werewolves and vampires, maybe he has a health care plan for them since he doesn’t have one for Georgians.”
The majority of those in attendance Thursday night fell into the senior citizen category that benefit greatly from early voting on the weekends because of work schedules or opportunities to skip long lines on Election Day.
Warnock added, “Here I stand up for re-election because I believe my service has made a difference.”
Prior to the ruling The Atlanta Voice reported that early voting for the runoff would begin Monday, November 28 and last for one week before Election Day, Tuesday, December 6.