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Older adults were most of Newton's early voters
One in three of county's active voters already had cast ballots before Election Day
Early voting
Voters have their IDs ready as they enter the voting area at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Covington in early May during the advance voting period for the General Primary Election in Newton County. - photo by Tom Spigolon

COVINGTON, Ga. — Newton County advance voting turnout numbers showed the majority of those taking advantage of the chance to cast ballots before Election Day today were older adults.

The majority of those going to the polls early (57%) for this year's election in Newton County were between the ages of 55 and 75 — despite the largest group of the county's active voters coming from the 18-24 age group, according to the Georgia Secretary of State's office.

Newton's ballot in today's election includes a special election on continuation of the current 1% SPLOST, as well as candidates for local, state and congressional offices.

The races between candidates included the hostly contested U.S. Senate race between incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock and challenger Herschel Walker.

The Secretary of State's office also broke down early voting in Newton County by race and gender:

• 53% were Black, 38% white, and the remaining 9% Hispanic, Asian, Native American or "unknown."

• 55% of early voters were female.

The largest turnout of Newton County's early voters came from the 55-60 age group, followed by the 60-65, 50-55 and 65-70 groups.

However, the largest age group of active voters in Newton County is the 18-24 group (9,100), followed by the 50-55 group (7,500) and 55-60 group (7,000), the Secretary of State's office reported.

Newton County also matched the statewide rate of one in three of its active voters casting their ballots either by mail or in-person before Election Day. 

Almost 33% of Newton County's 76,623 registered and active voters cast ballots early, according to the Secretary of State's office.

A total of 22,132 voted in-person at the county's two early voting locations during the 18-day period — a 15% increase from 19,259 during the last mid-term election in 2018 in Newton County.

An additional 3,020 absentee ballots had been accepted by mail or electronically before today out of 3,562 requested.

Many Newton County voters waited until the last day of the advance voting period — Nov. 4 — to cast ballots. More than 2,600 voted on the final day which was double the usual daily number.

Statewide, about 2.3 million out of 6.95 million active voters cast ballots before Election Day.

The largest turnout of Georgia early voters was in 60-65 age group, followed by the 65-70 group and the 55-60 group.

Highest turnout of early voters in the state was in Oconee, Towns, Greene and Rabun counties where all were above 50%.

Lowest turnout was in Chattahoochee County at 17%.