Richmond County early voters eager to cast a ballot in Senate runoff

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Early voting in Georgia for the Senate runoff between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker is underway – and Richmond County has nearly broken at least one record.

Early voting continues through Friday, but it started Sunday in Richmond County, bringing out more than 5,000 people to cast a ballot.

Some made it part of their Sunday routine coming straight from church and heading straight to the voting polls.

“I wanted to be here today when it started,” Willie Jackson Jr. said. “During the week people have lives. They have jobs, children, a lot of things get in the way of them going out to vote.”

Although we didn’t have early voting on Saturday here, more than 70,000 people in Georgia took to the polls on Saturday.

Neither Warnock nor Walker was able to pass the 50 percent threshold in the November election, leading to the runoff.

Early voting ends across the state on Friday, then Dec. 6 is Election Day.

Richmond County Board of Elections Director Travis Doss explained the reason for the Sunday voting here.

“Because the time period for the runoff was so short, we wanted to try and give people as many opportunities as possible to come out and vote early,” he said.

It was an opportunity not taken for granted.

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“It’s one thing to complain, but it’s another thing to make a difference,” voter Isaac Hall said.

Hall came out with his wife, Connie, to make a difference.

“I actually told him we’re voting today after church,” Connie Hall said. “We came here directly from church. It was our community Sunday and what better day to vote than on community Sunday for our community?”

Despite this being the only weekend day for Richmond County to go out to the polls for this runoff election, voters were thankful for the extra day.

“As someone who has worked my entire life and still has a busy schedule, being able to come on a weekend without having to rush and consider so many other interruptions is really a pleasure,” Carol Evans said.

Sunday’s total turnout of more than 5,000 beat previous single day turnout numbers from 2018, 2020 and 2022. The record was set back on the last day of advanced voting in 2016 at more than 5,400.

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