Ga. Senate runoff is today: What voters need to know

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - It’s Election Day in the Georgia Senate runoff for voters who didn’t cast an early ballot.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with Sen Raphael Warnock and GOP challenger Herschel Walker facing off again after neither reached the required threshold to claim an outright victory in November.

As of midday, the longest wait time for voting was 32 minutes in Cherokee County. The average wait time was three minutes.

According to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, 174,099 absentee ballots have already been accepted. That more than doubles the record for absentees in a previous midterm runoff.

FIND YOUR POLLING SITE:

Raffensperger said voters should check their My Voter Page to see their registration and sample ballot before they go to vote. They can also find their polling location at that site.

“We’re seeing very high levels of voter turnout, and I want every voter in Georgia to have the best experience possible,” said Raffensperger, the state’s chief of elections.

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Voters need to bring a state-issued photo ID to their polling site. That’s usually a driver’s license, but it can be any valid state- or federal-issued photo ID, including a free ID card issued by a county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services.

Among the forms of ID accepted:

A Georgia driver’s license, even if it’s expired or a current ID issued by another state.
Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency or entity of the U.S. government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of the state.
Valid U.S. passport ID.
Valid U.S. military photo ID containing a photograph of the voter.
Student photo ID card issued by a Georgia public college, university or technical school.
Valid tribal photo ID containing a photograph of the voter

What Augusta Transit is planning

Augusta Transit said not every polling station in Augusta-Richmond County has direct access to the agency’s services.

However, for polling stations within a 15-minute walk on a polling site, Augusta Transit said it guarantees there will be one bus on each of its nine fixed routes on Tuesday.

To find your nearest bus stop and which bus gets you to your polling station, call 706-821-1719. You can also use that number from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday for questions about fares and other issues.

All Augusta Transit buses accommodate people with a disability and riders who require special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Records broken during early voting

Conventional voting on Election Day comes after record-breaking early voting across the Peach State.

As of Saturday morning, more than 1.71 million voters cast ballots during early voting.

Friday’s total of 352,953 shattered the previous one day record for early voting in the 2016 presidential election, when 252,715 voters cast their ballots.

In Richmond County, 29,616 people cast their ballot during early voting, while 15,284 did so in Columbia County.