After the first week of early voting for the Nov. 3 election, 4,984 Oconee County voters had cast a ballot, down from 5,556 after the first week of voting in the comparable election of 2022.
The drop in voting reflects in part the fact that only five days of early voting took place in the first week of early voting this year, compared with six days four years ago. But decreased use of absentee ballots this year also played a role.
Four years ago, 414 Oconee County voters had returned an absentee ballot by the end of the first week of early voting, and that figure at the end of the day today (Saturday) was only 279.
Voting was late four years ago, on Nov. 8, and early voting started the week following the Columbus Day (Indigenous People’s Day) holiday, which is on the second Monday of October.
The Oconee County Elections and Registration Office has issued only 809 absentee ballots at this point this year, while it had issued 1,220 at this point four years ago.
The 4,984 votes cast so far represents 14.4 percent of the 34,600 eligible voters in Oconee County.
The 5,556 votes cast at the end of the first week of early voting in 2022 represented 16.9 percent of the 32,806 registered voters that year.
Early voting continues at 8 a.m. on Monday 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 next week and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the last week. Voting on Saturday, Oct. 24, is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More Details On Early Voting
On the first day of early voting on Tuesday, 1,105 Oconee County voters cast a ballot Advance In Person, followed by 1,022 on Wednesday, 992 on Thursday, 1,107 on Friday, and 479 today (Saturday).
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| No Kings Event Alps Road 11:54 A.M., 10/17/2026 |
Four years ago, 860 voters cast Advance In Person ballots on Oct. 17, a Monday, followed by 910 on Tuesday, 1,011 on Wednesday, 900 on Thursday, 1,165 on Friday, and 710 on Saturday.
In the November election four years ago, 22,525 Oconee County voters cast a ballot, or 74.7 percent of the 30,164 Active voters, or 68.7 percent of the registered voters.
Of those 22,525 ballots cast in 2022, a total of 14,867 (66.0 percent) were Advance In Person, 6,417 (28.5 percent) were on Election Day, and 1,239 (5.5 percent) were Absentee By Mail. Two provisional ballots were cast.
Turnout so far this voting cycle has been highest in Oconee Central Precinct (15.5 percent), followed by Oconee South (15.1 percent), Oconee Northeast (14.4 percent), and Dark Corner (11.1 percent).
The number of registered voters has been updated as last minute registration has been included: 19,225 (Oconee Central); 3,726 (Oconee South); 7,035 (Oconee Northeast); 4,614 (Dark Corner); for a total of 34,600.
Comparisons Of Turnout
Across the state, 11.1 percent of the Active voters have cast a ballot, either Advance in Person or Absentee By Mail, compared with 15.1 percent in Oconee County.
That figure is only 5.6 percent in Clarke County.
Oconee County House District 121 is split between Oconee County (precincts Central, South, and Dark Corner) and Clarke County, and Oconee County House District 120 includes Oconee Precinct Northeast, a large part of Clarke County, and parts of Barrow and Jackson counties.
Turnout so far in Barrow County is 9.2 percent of Active Voters. In Jackson, that figure is 9.5 percent.
State Senate District 46 includes all of Oconee County, parts of Clarke County, Walton County (turnout to date at 11.7 percent), Barrow County, and Gwinnett County (turnout to date of 10.4 percent).
Athens-Clarke County had very limited Advance In Person voting in this first week of early voting, held at the Elections Office downtown on East Washington Street.
Only 266 voters went to that site on Saturday, with the University of Georgia football game in town and downtown traffic and parking greatly restrained. Clarke County has 73,254 Active voters.
Early voting will be at three other sites Monday through Friday of this coming week, and at four other sites on Oct. 24 through Oct. 30.
Early voting also will be held at the Tate Center on the University of Georgia campus on Oct. 27.
Indivisible GA 10 focused its fourth “No Kings” action on Saturday on voting, with activities at three sites in Clarke County, including at Alps Road and Baxter Street, where more than 125 people turned out with a variety of signs, many promoting voting. A number of them were from Oconee County.
(My wife, Ann Hollifield, is media coordinator for Indivisible GA 10, but I attended the rally on my own, took the photo above, and made my own assessment of the crowd size.)
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