In the first day of early voting on Tuesday for the Nov. 3 election, 1,105 Oconee County voters cast a ballot, up by 282 from the comparable election four years ago and up by 392 from the November election in 2018.
The 1,105 voters on Tuesday represents 3.2 percent of the eligible voters, while the 823 first day voters in 2022 represented 2.5 percent of the then eligible voters, and the 713 first day voters in 2018 represented 2.8 percent of the then eligible voters.
At the end of the day on Tuesday, 98 Oconee County voters had returned an absentee ballot, meaning that 1,203 votes already have been cast for the Nov. 3 election, or 3.5 percent of the 34,459 registered voters.
In 2022, the total number of votes cast at the end of first day of early voting was 860, or 2.6 percent of the 32,806 registered voters. (The number of absentee ballots cast by the end of the first day of early voting in 2018 is not available.)
While the data suggest that voter interest in the 2026 election is at a higher level than in the last two comparable elections, voter use of absentee ballots, early voting, and election day voting has varied by election in the years since the COVID pandemic of 2020 greatly changed mode of voting.
In 2022, the Oconee County Office Of Elections and Registration had issued 1,122 absentee ballots by the end of the first day of Advance In Person voting, while at the end of the day on Tuesday that Office had issued only 737 Absentee By Mail ballots.
The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is Oct. 23.
Early voting continues at 8 a.m. tomorrow and runs through Oct. 30 at the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville. Voting is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays during the first two weeks of early voting and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the last week. Saturday voting is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Day One Voting Details
Advanced In Person voting, as a percent of eligible voters, was highest in Oconee South Precinct (3.6 percent), followed by Oconee Central Precinct (3.4 percent), and Dark Corner and Northeast precincts (both 2.7 percent).
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| County Administrative Building 10/13/2026 (Photo Courtesy Of Ann Hollifield) |
Dark Corner, with Election Day voting at Bethabara Baptist Church, 4651 Monroe Highway (U.S. 78), and Northeast, with Election Day voting at Marswood Hall, 3761 Mars Hill Road, are furthest from the site of advance voting at the county Administrative Building.
Election Day voting for Oconee Central is at the Civic Center, 2661 Hog Mountain Road, while Oconee South votes at Poplar Springs Baptist Church, 2700 Colham Ferry Road.
The construction on SR 316 and closing of the Jimmy Daniell Road interchange makes access to the Administrative Building more challenging than usual, particularly from that part of the Northeast precinct north of SR 316, which includes Bogart.
Absentee ballots made up a higher percentage of returned ballots at the end of the day on Tuesday in Oconee Northeast (12.0) than in Oconee South (8.2), Oconee Central (7.5), and Dark Corner (5.3). Dark Corner historically has a low turnout rate compared with the rest of the county.
Across the state, 188,667 votes were cast (Absentee and In Person) by the end of the day on Tuesday, which is 2.6 percent of the 7,530,361 active voters. (The Secretary of State Office does not list total registered voters.)
That same figure for Oconee County was 3.7 percent.
The figure for Clarke County was 1.5 percent.
Clarke County is gerrymandered into four state House Districts and two state Senate Districts to dilute the impact of the Democratic voting in the legislative races.
House District 121 includes Oconee County’s South, Central, and Dark Corner precincts and a smaller part of Clarke County.
House District 120 includes Oconee County’s Northeast Precinct and parts of Barrow, Clarke, and Jackson counties.
Senate District includes all of Oconee County and parts of Barrow, Clarke, Gwinett, and Jackson counties.
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