FOX 5 Atlanta illustration
ATLANTA - Georgia’s voting history is marked by both expanding access and efforts to restrict it.
A long fight over access to the ballot
After the Civil War, constitutional amendments prohibited denying the vote based on race, but states used practices such as poll taxes, literacy tests and white-only primaries to keep many Black citizens from voting.
In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Smith v. Allwright struck down Texas’ white primary system. Georgia’s system faced a separate challenge from Primus King, a Black Columbus resident who was turned away from the Democratic primary in 1944. A federal court ruled in King’s favor in 1945, and the decision was affirmed the following year. By 1946, 118,387 Black Georgians had registered to vote, though significant barriers remained.
Georgia also repealed its poll tax in 1945 and became the first state to lower the voting age to 18, in 1943. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, later barred poll taxes in federal elections; the Supreme Court’s 1966 decision in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections prohibited them in state elections as well. Georgia did not ratify the 24th Amendment.
Another major change came in 1963, when the Supreme Court struck down Georgia’s county unit system in Gray v. Sanders. The system gave rural counties disproportionate influence in statewide elections. The ruling helped establish the principle of "one person, one vote."
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned literacy tests and prohibited voting practices that discriminate based on race. It also required Georgia and other covered jurisdictions to receive federal approval before changing election laws. In 2013, Shelby County v. Holder invalidated the law’s coverage formula, ending that automatic preclearance requirement for Georgia. The decision did not strike down the entire Voting Rights Act.
Later court rulings also shaped voting maps. Shaw v. Reno in 1993 allowed challenges to districts alleged to rely too heavily on race; it did not categorically ban or endorse majority-minority districts. In 2026, Louisiana v. Callais changed the standards for evaluating some claims under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The decision addressed a specific Louisiana map and did not make all majority-minority districts unconstitutional.
From the Solid South to a competitive state
For much of the 20th century, Georgia was part of the Democratic "Solid South." From 1900 through 2024, the state voted Democratic for president 20 times, Republican 11 times and for a third-party candidate once. In 1968, segregationist George Wallace carried Georgia as the American Independent Party nominee.
The state’s politics shifted toward Republicans in the late 20th century. Georgia voted Republican in every presidential election from 2000 through 2016, then narrowly backed Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Trump won Georgia again in 2024 with about 50.7% of the vote to Kamala Harris’ 48.5%. That recent back-and-forth is why Georgia is often described as a battleground or "purple" state: its statewide results can turn on small shifts in turnout and support.
Georgia has 16 electoral votes, allocated to the statewide winner. That makes it an important prize in presidential elections: a candidate needs 270 electoral votes nationally to win.
How many Georgians vote?
Turnout depends on the election. Georgia saw about 3.9 million votes in the 2018 governor’s race and roughly 3.95 million in the 2022 governor’s race. Presidential elections have drawn more: about 5 million ballots in 2020 and 5.29 million in 2024.
As of Oct. 27, 2026, about 2 million Georgians had already voted in the midterm election. That is an early snapshot, not a final turnout figure. Early voting counts also do not show which candidates voters chose, and the numbers can change before Election Day.
Urban and rural voting patterns
Georgia’s urban and rural counties tend to vote differently. In 2024, Trump carried 132 of the state’s 159 counties, while Harris performed strongly in populous metro Atlanta counties. Those counties can have more influence on the statewide total because they contain many more voters.
The pattern is not uniform: rural counties can differ from one another, and suburban counties have become increasingly important in close races. Early-voting comparisons in 2026 show varied activity across the state, but county totals cannot reveal how individual voters will cast their ballots.
How Georgia compares with its neighbors
Georgia’s recent results have been closer than those of most neighboring states. In 2024, Trump won Georgia by a narrow margin and also carried North Carolina, while his margins were larger in Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee. Florida also voted Republican by a wider margin than Georgia. The comparison reflects a regional pattern, but Georgia and North Carolina have been more competitive than their neighbors in recent presidential elections.
Georgia’s trajectory—from restricted access to expanded participation, and from the Solid South to a closely contested state—shows how voting rules and voter coalitions have changed together. The 2026 early-voting total signals strong participation so far, but the final count will determine how the state’s electorate compares with its recent history.
SOURCES
- Ballotpedia – Presidential elections in Georgia
- United States Election Assistance Commission
- Voting Rights Lab
- The American Presidency Project
- National Archives – Electoral Votes
- Legal Information Institute
- 270 To Win